Back in February Jaguar Land Rover announced a radical shift in its future planning, one that would see Jaguar becoming an all-electric brand after 2025, with Land Rover transforming into a highly electrified brand that offers a mix between battery power and internal combustion.
JLR initially announced that this future line-up would be formed around three distinct platforms, but now new details about the actual products are starting to emerge. According to Autocar, the next-generation Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport compacts will be the first vehicles to use the upcoming EMA architecture, which was designed with a bias towards fully electric vehicles while still being capable of supporting “advanced” hybrid powertrains that include internal combustion engines as range extenders.
The new Evoque and Discovery Sport are due around 2024 and both will make a significant move upmarket in terms of pricing, Autocar adds. This is largely to recoup the costs of developing the new architecture, which is expected to account for about half of its sales by the end of this decade.
Land Rover has also announced a new Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) for its more upmarket vehicles. Supporting both hybrid internal combustion based powertrains and fully electric vehicles, MLA will reportedly form the basis of the future Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar models. The Land Rover Defender family is also expected to expand in the coming years, although details remain scarce.
Land Rover is planning to launch six all-electric vehicles in the next five years, with the first due in 2024. It will offer the option of pure electric variants in all of its model ranges by 2030, by which time it is anticipated that EVs will account for around 60 percent of Land Rover’s sales. The company is also currently developing hydrogen fuel cell technology.
JLR’s electrification drive forms part of the British carmaker’s plan to become a net zero carbon business by 2039.
