Jaguar XJ (electric)
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The electric Jaguar XJ was a
battery-electric A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, wi ...
luxury saloon car due to be launched in 2021 by British car company
Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...
(JLR) under their
Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars ...
marque. It was to supersede the XJ (X351), the last example of which was built in July 2019. In February 2021, CEO
Thierry Bolloré Thierry Yves Henri Bolloré (born 30 May 1963) is a French businessman, previously CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. He began his career at Michelin, then joined Faurecia in 2005 and Renault in 2012 as Chief Competitive Officer, then was named COO in 2 ...
announced that this car was cancelled as part of Jaguar's Reimagine plan, although the XJ name may be revived at a later date.


History

A prototype based on the current-production XJ (X351) was built in 2010; the X351-based vehicle was equipped with a , traction motor and included a three-cylinder, range extending gasoline engine. It was said to have a range of with a combined fuel economy of .


Project X391

On 5 July 2019, the last day of production of their
Jaguar XJ (X351) The Jaguar XJ (X351) is the fourth and final generation of the Jaguar XJ saloon manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar, and later Jaguar Land Rover. Announced in 2009, and going on sale from 2010, the X351 combines revised styl ...
car at their
Castle Bromwich Assembly Castle Bromwich Assembly is a factory owned by Jaguar Land Rover. It is located on the Chester Road in Castle Vale, Birmingham, England and employs 3,200 people. The plant covers an area of 110 acres (44.5 hectares), with a 60,000 m² (6-hecta ...
site, JLR announced they intended to build its replacement, an all-electric luxury saloon car, at the same plant. JLR had confirmed its plans previously in May. A teaser image of the model was shown at the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show. The car was originally expected to be launched in 2020. According to
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
, the new model was being "developed by the same team that created the I-Pace" and JLR were planning to make a new range of electrified vehicles at the plant. The project was codenamed X391, and was being developed alongside the Land Rover Road Rover (project code L392), which was detailed in October 2019. JLR had planned to update the Castle Bromwich plant to produce the car on the company's new Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform. The plan to build the electric Jaguar XJ saloon, replacing the manufacturing of the conventional XJ at this plant, was viewed as essential for "safeguarding the jobs of 2,500 people", or 2,700 people according to BBC News. Manufacturing of the new model had been expected to start in autumn 2019, after a significant investment in upgrades to the facility.
David Bailey David Royston Bailey (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer and director, most widely known for his fashion photography and portraiture, and role in shaping the image of the Swinging Sixties. Early life David Bailey was born at Wh ...
, a professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School, said that, without the new electric model, the Castle Bromwich plant would "effectively be dead". The
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...
forced JLR to halt non-essential spending, delaying the scheduled unveiling of X391 and L392 by two months to October and November 2020. By January 2021, X391 had failed to launch and speculation on the fate of Castle Bromwich and the upcoming electric XJ began; X391 was cancelled formally in February; Bolloré had made the decision to discontinue development within his first month with JLR: "XJ was a completely different kind of car from the ones we were proposing – different in technology, battery chemistry, electronics, size, performance and market position. It would never have suited our plans." During an investor call, JLR CFO Adrian Mardell stated the cancellation of X391 and L392 would result in a write-off of in development costs. Mardell clarified Bolloré's stance: "The current MLA program ... would have been catch-up in missionscompliance and that just isn't good enough in this industry today" and added " 391wouldn't have that modern luxury, that future Jaguar vision, that drop-dead aspiration that we need to make this brand work ... So we had to make a tough decision." After the electric XJ was cancelled, JLR announced that it would "end mass production of cars at (Castle Bromwich) before 2025". In early 2022, JLR announced that under the Reimagine plan, the planned all-electric line-up by 2025 would be based on an internally-developed platform known as Panthera. Bolloré stated that Panthera would not be shared with Land Rover, as it was designed to allow Jaguar to provide "unique proportions" and capabilities, and would help the marque survive as it moved to a higher price point and lower volume. The upcoming Panthera-based flagship of the Jaguar line is anticipated to be called the XJ. Later in February, Jaguar stated it would develop Panthera jointly with
Magna Steyr Magna Steyr AG & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Graz, Austria, where its primary manufacturing plant is also located. It is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International and was previously part of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch congl ...
, which assembles the I-Pace under contract to JLR in Austria.


Design

In March 2020, a prototype X391 was photographed while undergoing testing on public roads. Although the car's features were obscured, '' Autocar'' commented that the prototype's "long bonnet and high waistline aren't unlike those of the outgoing XJ", and the X391 would have been wider and taller than the X351. MLA was designed to accommodate underfloor batteries up to 90.2 kW-hr in size, providing up to of range using one traction motor on each axle.


References


External links

{{Jaguar modern timeline, state=collapsed Electric concept cars XJ