JLR has increased its five-year investment plan from £15 billion to £18bn after the slower-than-predicted EV take-up forced it to boost spending on platforms that allow combustion engines as well as electric powertrains.
The British firm announced the original £15bn plan last April, detailing spending on new EV platforms, including the mid-sized EMA, which will underpin cars built at its Halewood plant from 2025.
However, the sluggish demand for electric cars has forced it top up the spending budget to extend the life of ICE cars.
The hike to £18bn is “partly because we are having to invest more in keeping the parallel running of BEV vehicles and ICE vehicles going for longer than we anticipated as the industry trend towards BEV globally starts to slow down from previous expectations,” JLR CFO Richard Molyneux told analysts at the company’s investor day in June.
“Until one powertrain technology properly wins globally we are going to continue to have to invest in multiple powertrains at the same time, so that probably will drive investment up,” added Molyneux.
JLR CEO Adrian Mardell said in May that ICE cars and EVs will run side by side at Halewood “for a limited period of time”. The plant currently builds the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.
Two of JLR’s key profit drivers, the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, are built on the MLA Flex platform, which allows petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and electric drivetrains. The replacement for the Land Rover Defender could also be built on MLA.
The bigger investment comes as “we evolve our Discovery brand and evolve our Jaguar brand still further,” Molyneux said.
Back in 2021, JLR axed the lower riding MLA ‘mid’ multi-fuel platform, which was to underpin a new Jaguar XJ, a lower-riding Range Rover and a Jaguar ‘J-Pace’ SUV.
Jaguar has since been reinvented as an electric-only brand, with the first of its three new luxury EVs arriving next year, costing from £100,000.
The four-door GT that will begin the rebirth has been slightly delayed; during its 2023 investment announcement, JLR said it would be on sale in some markets by the end of the year. Instead a concept will be shown by the end of 2024, with sales starting in 2025.
“We have one advantage over many in our industry in that we have not yet played our cards in the BEV game,” Molyneux said. “Many competitors have placed their bets, done their investment, launched their cars and quite a few have regretted it. It's one of the advantages of being a follower rather than being first in the market.”
Add your comment