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British automaker Jaguar – set to become an EV-only brand next year – is officially ending production of its ICE vehicles by June and stepping into a new era of very expensive but powerful EVs. Assembly lines are stopping to transition to an entirely new EV platform from the one underpinning the long-troubled I-Pace.
Jaguar is looking for a fresh start, and that means the I-Pace is dying too, along with its current crop of gas- and diesel-powered road vehicles. At the moment, five cars are still on sale in the US – the XF sedan, E-Pace and F-Pace crossovers, F-Type roadster and coupe, and the electric I-Pace. But production is ending in June, while the I-Pace will continue to be built until likely next year.
Jaguar plans to launch a new generation of high-performance BEVs in 2025, and North American Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) CEO Joe Eberhardt told Road & Track that the company is scheduling the EV transition strategically as it ends production on the current lineup.
The last customers for the F-Type sports car are having their orders built now, and production will continue until June for the F-Pace midsize crossover, the E-Pace compact crossover, and the XF sedan. The I-Pace, built under contract in Austria by Magna Steyr, will end production last, most likely sometime early next year. Meanwhile, the company plans to stockpile vehicles to have supply ready for dealers, but Eberhardt didn’t offer details on how that will play out.
“The majority of our products cease production in June, but they will be on sale for a much longer time,” Eberhardt said. “We will have a production schedule that enables us to have a continuous supply of vehicles until the new cars come… We’re trying to time it so we have enough volume to take us through to the launch of the new product and have a clean handover.”
The I-Pace, for its part, has had what seems like endless problems in the past, with the company recalling it last year due to battery fire risk.
In the coming months, the company’s UK Castle Bromwich plant, where the F-Type, XF, and the smaller XE sedan are built, will transition to producing body panels for all of the brand’s models after vehicle production ends.
Jaguar’s first next-gen EV will be a four-door GT with prices upwards of £100,000 (about $127,000), and will be Jaguar’s most powerful road car of all time with upwards of 575 hp. The GT will be equipped with all-wheel drive and offer a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of under four seconds. The car will be capable of fast charging and have a range of up to 434 miles (700 km).
It’s the first variant to be built on the new Jaguar EV platform, the Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA). Two other JEA-based crossovers are expected to join the GT soon after it debuts. The GT is expected to debut late this year, with sales starting next year.
Jaguar also says it won’t offer direct sales in the US, which is bucking the trend. Rather, US buyers can access the next-gen vehicles via dealers.
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