Autocar September 26, 2018

LAST WEEK, JAGUAR’S Castle Bromwich plant moved to a three-day working week. Jaguar said this was due to wider industry turmoil, caused by the uncertainty around Brexit and the declining demand of diesel. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also because the models built at Castle Bromwich – XE, XF, XJ and F-Type – aren’t resonating with buyers. No matter how good they might be, they are mainly conventional, old-tech models, existing in a world dominated by SUVs and with a fast-growing interest in electric cars. Jaguar knows this itself with the success of the F-Pace and strong interest in the I-Pace. The latter cars have shown Jaguar at its most daring and it is reaping the rewards for challenging the status quo. As a company, Jaguar is versatile enough to adopt…

“A full-on luxury electric saloon, replacing the unloved XJ, is expected within two years” Jaguar Land Rover bosses are considering a plan to turn Jaguar into an EV-only brand within the next decade, Autocar has learned. It is understood that company product planners have produced an outline strategy under which Jaguar’s conventional vehicle range would be phased out over the next five to seven years, to be replaced by pure-electric vehicles. Under the plans being considered, a full-on luxury electric saloon, replacing the unloved XJ, is expected within two years. It will be a direct competitor for Porsche’s upcoming Taycan, alongside strong-selling cars such as the Tesla Model S. Rethought as an electric vehicle, the new XJ will both play to the strengths of the 1967 original by offering segment-leading…

If an all-EV Jaguar line-up sounds unlikely, then step back and take a look at the brand’s recent product launches, which show it has been surprisingly committed to battery propulsion. Back in 2009, Jaguar built the XJ-based Limo Green, which was driven by an electric motor and had a small battery backed up by a Lotus-designed 1.2-litre engine that acted as a generator when the battery was exhausted. Jaguar entered the electric Formula E series in 2016, with a team unusually run out of its car factory. Earlier, there was the stillborn C-X75 hybrid two-seat sports car. The brand has also spent serious time and money designing an electric drivetrain for retrofitting into a classic E-Type. The E-Type Zero is on sale now. Finally, the I-Pace electric crossover beat the…

To get a proper scale of Jaguar’s troubles, you have to look at its Castle Bromwich factory’s output between January and August this year. With the model-by-model build numbers outlined below, the factory’s output totalled 52,476 cars over eight months’ production. XE and XF sales dropped significantly, down 25% and 17% respectively for the year. Over the same period, 63,815 examples of the F-Pace and E-Pace were built outside of Castle Bromwich. Total Jaguar sales over the first eight months of 2018 were 116,849, including 588 I-Pace models. Extrapolating to a full year of sales, Castle Bromwich output would be around 78,700 units and total Jaguar sales about 175,200. For a brand with three mainstream saloons and two mainstream SUVs, that figure is very low. Even Jaguar’s SUVs are under…

Peugeot has unveiled the e-Legend Concept, an electric sports car with advanced autonomous features and styling heavily inspired by the 504 Coupé. The e-Legend will make its public debut at the Paris motor show in October, 50 years after the French firm launched the two-door version of the 504. Peugeot design boss Gilles Vidal said the e-Legend was designed to contrast with its last autonomous concept, the Instinct. “That took the shape of a future-orientated machine,” he said. “We wanted to push that logic further and talk about a non-boring future in which we don’t have to have slow-looking cars that are sleek and minimalistic”. Despite that, the firm was determined to ensure the e-Legend wasn’t simply a retro design, giving it sharper lines that ape American muscle cars. Under…

Peugeot has no plans to make a production version of the e-Legend Concept – although design chief Gilles Vidal admitted he’d “love to”. I’d love him to as well. I suspect you would too. Because, if you strip out all the new tech, the e-Legend Concept is a fantastically styled car: wonderfully retro yet also fresh and modern. To my eyes, it has as much American muscle car about it as the 504 Coupé. By looking to the past, Peugeot has made the future seem cool. It looks like the sort of car you really want to drive. Which is notable, since an awful lot of autonomous concepts don’t. Peugeot’s goal was to prove autonomous electric cars can still be stylish, dynamic and fun. Job done.…