Jaguar Land Rover to Invest $19 Billion to Develop EVs

According to foreign media reports, Jaguar Land Rover will invest 15 billion pounds ($19 billion) in the development of electric vehicles over the next five years to catch up with its competitors.

Jaguar Land Rover will transition to an all-electric car brand, and the company will launch a new all-electric Jaguar car in 2025. The four-door GT model will cost more than 100,000 pounds ($124,200) and the new car will be built at the company's Solihull plant in central England, Jaguar Land Rover said.

Jaguar Land Rover said its Halewood plant in north-west England will become an all-electric vehicle manufacturing facility. The plant will begin producing all-electric Range Rover SUVs in 2025.

Jaguar Land Rover will also retool its Wolverhampton engine manufacturing plant to produce electric drives and assemble battery packs. Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company Tata Motors is considering building a new plant in Spain or the UK to produce battery cells. Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell said the company will be a major customer for Tata's new battery plant in the future.

Jaguar Land Rover will also retain the metal stamping facility at its Castle Bromwich plant, but the company said they will "continue to explore" the possibility of other areas of the plant. The company currently produces Jaguar cars and F-Types at its Castle Bromwich plant.

Jaguar Land Rover previously said it would invest £2.5 billion a year in electrification. Pressure is mounting on the company to electrifying quickly, especially in the Chinese market, where competition is accelerating and pressure to reduce prices is growing.

Jaguar Land Rover released its widely acclaimed all-electric model, the I-Pace, in 2018, but the company has not launched another zero-emission model since. By contrast, its German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz have both launched several electric car models.

Jaguar said on March 19 the company is aiming for a double-digit EBIT margin by 2026, and its EBIT margin was 3.7 percent in the previous quarter.