Every Jaguar and Land Rover vehicle from 2020 on will have an electric option. Jaguar is also announcing that they have formed a technology partnership with BMW on electric cars, and for developing the next generation of electric powertrains together.
“The BMW Group and Jaguar Land Rover today confirmed they are joining forces to develop next generation electric drive units in a move that supports the advancement of electrification technologies necessary to transition to an ACES future.”
– From the joint Jaguar Land Rover and BMW press release.
(We believe ACES is short for Automated, Connected, Electric, and Shared. Someone please correct us if we got that wrong.)
Not waiting around for the results of that partnership, JLR have also announced that every JLR model will be available with either a fully electric or a hybrid electric drive train, starting next year. Given the recent announcement of the new I-6 Ingenium engines, this probably means a fairly mild hybridization for most models. Other models will include fully electric, and plug-in hybrid options.
“The automotive industry is undergoing a steep transformation. We see collaboration as a key for success, also in the field of electrification. With Jaguar Land Rover, we found a partner whose requirements for the future generation of electric drive units significantly match ours. Together, we have the opportunity to cater more effectively for customer needs by shortening development time and bringing vehicles and state-of-the-art technologies more rapidly to market,”
– Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management for Development at BMW
On a more practical note, the new partnership will take shape as a “a joint team of BMW Group and Jaguar Land Rover experts located in Munich” that will be “tasked with further developing the Gen 5 power units with the production of the electric drivetrains to be undertaken by each partner in their own manufacturing facilities.”
If JLR can just survive their current financial woes, this all sounds very electrifying.