Jaguar has had NO new cars on sale for a year, but its boss says it’s ‘not a mistake’

Jaguar’s boss has defended the carmaker’s decision to stop producing and selling new cars for a year ahead of its bold transition to electric vehicles.

The British brand has stopped production of all petrol and diesel models for the first time since World War II, as it ends its 102-year relationship with the internal combustion engine.

This anticipates the switch to battery power from 2026 and dealers closed order books to new customers last week, leaving Jaguar with no new cars for sale.

Managing director Rawdon Glover said this week that the 12-month market hiatus has always been part of a ‘strategic decision’ and is ‘not a mistake’, with Jaguar wanting a ‘fire break’ period for dealers and customers to prepare prepare for the crisis. electrical rebranding.

Jaguar is now completely reliant on its used car sales network to get through the next twelve months.

While many car manufacturers have put the brakes on their ambitions to go electric this decade, Jaguar is bucking the trend.

Its idiosyncratic approach will gain momentum next month when it unveils a concept version of its first all-new EV, which it will fully unveil before the end of next year.

In preparation, the company has already stopped making existing models, with the British-built XE and XF sedans and the F-Type sports car ceasing production in June.

Assembly of the E-Pace was also completed at the end of the summer, while a JLR spokesperson confirmed to This is Money in October that Jaguar had also stopped making right-hand drive F-Pace SUVs for the UK market.

Production of its only electric car, the I-Pace – which was built in Graz, Austria, at the same factory where the E-Pace was made – has also been halted, although some new models will remain available to business customers until early 2025.

It means that Jaguar has stopped all car production for the first time since World War II.

Next Tuesday, Jaguar bosses will shed some light on the brand’s new brand identity and how it will tackle the company’s dramatic change.

Before the announcement, Glover said the year-long exit from the new car market was part of a planned “fire pause” to “give customers and dealers a chance to reset as we move into this new era for the brand,” Glover said. Magazine for car dealers.

In a statement issued to Coach Last week, a Jaguar spokesperson said: ‘Sales of new Jaguars will end from November 2024, ahead of the unveiling of our new brand later this year and product launch in 2026.

‘Although we have now ceased allocating our current generation of Jaguar vehicles, we do have a selection of models available for purchase on an approved pre-owned basis through our UK retail network.’

This is Money has contacted Jaguar for comment.

Jaguar is driving in a different direction than its rivals

Jaguar’s decision to continue with its electric transition is a stark contrast to some of its biggest rivals.

Bentley last week became the latest to backtrack on its EV pledge, confirming it had pushed back its plan to become an all-electric carmaker by five years to 2035. It also said the first all-electric car arriving in 2026 won’t be a sleek car. luxury coupe, but instead a large, premium SUV.

In September, Volvo announced that it would not only become an electric car brand from 2030, as it had previously promised.

The Swedish brand – which is now a major competitor to JLR in the premium vehicle segment – said it now aims for 90 to 100 percent of its global sales to be pure electric or plug-in hybrid by the end of the decade .

Luxury car manufacturer Porsche also announced this fall that it was postponing its plans because the transition to EV is taking longer than expected.

The company has downplayed its target of having 80 percent of sales be all-electric by 2030 and further confirmed that it will continue to sell the existing Cayenne combustion SUV for the next decade.

In recent months, Toyota has confirmed it will significantly reduce its EV production volumes by 2026, while Renault’s boss said carmakers are not on the “right path” to go all-electric by 2035 – the date proposed by the EU to to ban new petrol and diesel cars, which is five years later than the UK deadline.

Ford bosses said in July that the car will not be fully electric by 2030, despite this being expected to happen as early as February 2021.

Aston Martin has also said it is delaying the launch of its first electric car in response to declining demand for new electric cars.

The industry’s massive retreat from EV promises also comes against a backdrop of brands cutting their existing EV prices in a bid to boost sales, announcements of longer life cycles for gasoline cars and some brands shutting down production lines for temporarily halting battery vehicles due to a lack of electric cars. of the question.