Autocar July 11, 2018

JAGUAR LAND ROVER claims that up to £80 billion of investment in the UK is at risk over the next five years, along with factory closures, if the UK comes away with a ‘bad’ Brexit deal. What investment would the UK missing out on, should such a scenario arise? We reveal it this week (p8): 99 new or revised models, many of which will use a new industry-leading architecture that can underpin anything from a small SUV with a three-cylinder engine to a huge five-metre-long electric car. To this point, no other car maker has created something quite as flexible, or quite as remarkable. JLR, now out of the doldrums of the recession at the turn of the last decade, is bucking the British car industry trend of generations by…

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has embarked on a massive programme of investment in new models that will enable the company to expand its line-up by four new or returning nameplates by 2023, launch 99 new model variants and replace every current model by 2024. As well as the I-Pace, JLR will roll out the all-new Defender, the super-luxury Jaguar J-Pace SUV and a more road-biased Range Rover ‘Allroad’ EV as the four new models. First out of the blocks in this new era for JLR will be next year’s all-new Range Rover Evoque, which will include in its line-up a highly economical plug-in hybrid version with a CO2 rating of just 45g/km. The new Evoque sits on a heavily modified version of the current steel platform, but the new strategy…

According to new financial results filed by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), its once monumental profit margins have evaporated. The days of leaping sales and big transaction prices (especially in China) have given way to slowing demand and significant sums have been invested in the new MLA platform, the I-Pace and the new Slovakia factory. In the financial year 2017-2018, JLR’s profit margin was just 3.5%. The company says its new MLA platform strategy, significant cost-cutting and a reduction in complexity of future components mean it is getting its costs under control while still investing massively. As well as adding as many as four new model lines over the next five to six years, JLR will also completely replace its model line-up over just six years, while increasing the complexity and…

Jaguar Land Rover’s MLA architecture looks set to be the most important engineering innovation from these brands for decades. Not only is MLA designed to be flexible enough to underpin everything from a future Jaguar XE to future LWB Range Rover, but it also can also accommodate every type of transmission. Future vehicles based on the MLA will have mild hybrid engines (petrol and diesel) so the entry-level platform has space under the floor for a small battery, This will power electric turbos and small electric motors that drive the engine crankshaft directly. The plug-In version of the MLA gets a bigger underfloor battery and signals the end of conventional mechanical four-wheel drive. Instead, the rear axle is powered by an electric motor. This offers better torque control off road…

2019 ▪ All-new Range Rover Evoque 2 (Premium Transverse Architecture). ▪ Jaguar XE/XF facelift and mild-hybrid drivetrains and new-generation diesels. ▪ Land Rover Discovery Sport major facelift and mild-hybrid drivetrains and new-gen diesels (PTA). 2020 ▪ All-new Defender (Modular Longitudinal Architecture). ▪ Range Rover Velar facelift, with mild-hybrid drivetrains and new diesels. ▪ Jaguar F-Pace facelift with mild-hybrid drivetrains and new diesels. 2021 • All-new Range Rover 5 (MLA). ▪ Jaguar E-Pace major facelift and mild-hybrid drivetrain/diesels (PTA). ▪ All-new Jaguar XJ battery-electric flagship (MLA). ▪ All-new Jaguar J-Pace (MLA). 2022 ▪ All-new Range Rover Sport (MLA). ▪ Jaguar F-Type facelift, with new-generation drivetrains, and possible four-door XK variant. ▪ Range Rover ‘Allroad’ (MLA). 2023 ▪ All-new Jaguar F-Pace (MLA). ▪ All-new Land Rover Discovery 6 (MLA). ▪ All-new Jaguar…

Volkswagen R performance variants are now so important to the car maker that the R division is involved from the start of a standard model’s product development. Speaking to Autocar in Peterborough at the customer handover of the 200,000th Volkswagen R car, division boss Jost Capito said Volkswagen’s executives have been “pushing” him for more input into each new model because they’re aware of the positive impact a halo variant can have on overall sales. “R has become so successful – we’ve sold nearly 100,000 Golf Rs alone – that we are thinking about this version of a car as soon as the process begins,” he said. “If we did it differently, if we had to adjust cars at a more advanced stage of development to make the R model,…