Jaguar Land Rover bucks the trend: less electric, more PHEV | FormulaPassion.it

Less electric, more plug-in hybrids. Jaguar Land Rover is changing its product strategy a bit, saying it is ready to slow down on the launch of new BEV models to give more space to the rechargeable hybrid. A reversal of trend largely due to the market, which has seen customer interest in full electric vehicles cool down, with many motorists instead opting for PHEVs according to data collected by the British giant.

Less electric, more PHEVs

JLR would thus have reduced the list of new electric models arriving in the coming years from 6 to 4, deciding to focus on plug-in hybrid cars. CEO Adrian Mardell explained how the slowdown in the electrification strategy is due precisely to the British car manufacturer's desire to better analyze market trends. Jaguar Land Rover customers would in fact have shown greater acceptance towards PHEVs, hence the choice to focus on the hybrid version with greater insistence, at least in the short term.

Jaguar Land Rover's plans

However, this does not completely close the doors to the new electric vehicles arriving. Starting with the new Range Rover EV, with the waiting list already open and over 16,000 expressions of interest for the first full electric from the Land Rover brand. This will also be followed by a draft version of the Range Rover Sport, both based on the MLA platform which also forms the basis for the endothermic variants. In JLR's plans there would also be two compact EVs, which should replace the Range Rover Evoque and probably the Velar, both of which will be created on the new EMA architecture. Finally there would be the first electric Defender, which the British car manufacturer will build in Slovakia by 2030.

Soaring for plug-in hybrids

In the meantime, however, the reversal of the trend towards PHEVs has partly changed the British giant's mind: “The acceptance of the PHEV was a real surprise”Mardell explained. “We are working hard in the meantime to make more PHEVs available on the market.” Above all, the market data highlighted by Dataforce weigh on this decision, which saw a significant increase in sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles for JLR, with a +68% equivalent to 45,224 units in 2023.