Monday
I’m worried about Jaguar. It’s a year since we revealed the marque’s last concept, the Vision Gran Turismo SV, and even that was only a pawn in a computer game.
It’s also a year since CEO Thierry Bolloré revealed his 2025 plan to refound the marque as an EV range. Since then we’ve had nothing to ‘Reimagine’, not even the emergence of a prominent and determined Jaguar leader that would seem logical. Not even a comment on how it’s going. The only signs of movement are JLR’s sales types battling to shift cars everyone knows will soon be time-expired.
Meanwhile, Jaguar has lost its best-known design leaders. Sure, Gerry McGovern is in charge and he’s a wonderful designer, well proven at building winning Land Rovers. But where’s the evidence he knows what a new-era Jag should be like? If I were in charge, I’d stop enjoying being enigmatic and mysterious and start reassuring long-suffering Jag lovers that the marque (which has always had trouble connecting its heritage to its future) is safe. This is uncharted territory. There’s some unprecedentedly clever communicating to be done – and it’s urgent.
Tuesday
I said goodbye today to the Citroën ë-Berlingo I’ve enjoyed this past week. Remarkably, while it was at my place, this EV magically changed from being a range curiosity to a mainstream product: Stellantis suddenly announced that all future models from this line would be EVs. To someone with my Berlingo proclivities, it was a bombshell.
The Citroën is nice to drive, and happily uncorrupted by changes in weight distribution brought by an EV powertrain and a 50kWh battery. But in near-freezing conditions its reliable range is 120 miles, not the touted 170.
Car bosses become ever less accessible, partly because of the scarcity of motor shows. This does not apply to 
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Steve, I note your comments on freezing weather hammering the range on the e-Berlingo, but surely that is no different from any EV? Better get an ICE one while the dealers still have some!
Re Berlingo: A 120-170 mile range for the 50kw EV version seems adequate for the vast majority of uses for this vehicle. Recent research in Scotland shows that 20% of journeys are less than 1km, 35% less than 5km, for example. Plus the EVs don't produce a stream of toxic pollution like the 18 year old diesel version does.1 in 12 cases of childhood asthma are caused by diesel engine emissions. Maybe that's the more important issue relating to this type of vehicle?