We’ve grown used to car factories in this country having a constant air of insecurity around them and their future prospects.
So our scoop this week that Land Rover will start building electric cars at Halewood in 2024 as part of a major refit and refurbishment of the plant is a welcome bit of good news for the cars that are made there and their future relevance.
There was no real suggestion that Halewood was ever under any particular threat, nor was there any expectation it would do anything but build electric cars in the future. Yet the news that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is ready now to invest many millions of pounds into the home of its volume models and create all-electric versions of them is still to be celebrated.
JLR is looking to become a leaner and ultimately more profitable company, with reduced complexity in its model lines, all of its Land Rover models based on one of just two architectures and, in the UK, just two factories, rather than three (Castle Bromwich is going to be home to a range of consolidated JLR facilities in the Midlands, leaving Solihull to build the bigger cars and Halewood the smaller models).
Halewood is the home of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, cars that will switch to the new EMA platform from 2024 after the plant’s extended shutdown readying it to build electric cars is complete. Importantly, though, it’s not yet confirmed whether it will be these specific EVs rolling out of the Halewood gates.
The switch will be well timed. The Evoque in particular is no longer the dominant force that it once was. In last year’s global premium C-SUV charts, it was outsold more than three-to-one by the Volvo XC40, while the Lexus UX moved ahead of it. According to figures from Jato Dynamics, it was the only C-SUV from a European or Japanese brand in the top 10 of the class to slide backwards in sales terms, and all the segment’s biggest sellers have electric versions either on sale now or imminent, including the BMW iX1 and Volvo XC40 Recharge.
JLR’s speed to adopt electric cars has been frankly baffling after an industry-leading start. It got there first in the premium EV segment with the Jaguar I-Pace, but no follow-up has ever arrived five years later. The early lead it got even on the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz has long been squandered, and it’s playing catch up once more.
Yet with Halewood going electric in 2024 and a full-size electric Range Rover arriving at the same time from Solihull, JLR can at last get back in the EV race. Its factories going electric now also lines the company up for a smoother transition to an ICE-less future post-2030 and allows a gradual ramp-up towards electric cars and the continued sale of hybrids as demand dictates.
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JLR has the world's worst automotive CEO in charge, Thierry Bollore.
He's killing off Jaguar. Cancelling all their models instead of walking them through a hybrid period towards full electrification. Trying to move all JLR's products up market instead of expanding the range to fully compete with the German brands that they should be doing.
Bollore cancelled the next XJ stating the platform was out of date, only to release both the Range Rover and the Sport version using that very same platform. Now wants to reinvent Jaguar as a fully EV company in the belief it can instantly rival Tesla.
Many have thought they would be the next Tesla, many have failed.
i-Pace hasn't been updating, yet it was not only first by class leading. FAR too many journalists over looked it in favour of German rivals, even when they stated in reviews it was better! They still picked an Audi or Merc. Why? But more a question to Jaguar, why no updates? Why no expansion of EV offerings?
Bollore wants Jaguar to compete with Bentley. That means decimating the workforce because Bentley only does a fraction of the cars Jaguar does, and even less than it could.
Jaguar should have been improving their current ranges, ensuring that the occupants front and back come first in design, have space for feet, head, shoulders and are comfortable, before designing a cramp interior. Then they should be doing a 1-series / A-class rival. A smaller Jaguar to get younger people in to the brand. Making the design language inside attractive to the younger (under 60!) generation!
Even the Evoke has been allowed to get stale. Once their most popular model, it doesn't fit with Range Rover's desires to become more and more expensive. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics can predict what happens to your sales when you overprice your goods. The Evoke won't fit in Bollore's future plans, and neither will those who build it.
Bollore so far has only managed to kill off Jaguar by refusing to build them. Even our own government had to buy Audis because Bollore refused to build more XJ models.
RIP Jaguar. Cause of death: Thierry Bollore.