Turning Point

JAGUAR LAND ROVER IS ON A ROLL. THE PATIENCE of parent company Tata Motors—and its willingness to invest in new product—means the two British luxury brands are healthier than ever. Land Rover, riding the global boom in SUV sales, is setting the pace and making the lion’s share of JLR’s profits right now. Jaguar, a latecomer to the SUV party with its new F-Pace, is playing catch-up as it moves away from relying on increasingly unfashionable sedans and niche-market sports cars. But both face near-term challenges.

- Georg Kacher

The all-electric I-Pace SUV due for 2018 is pitched as another turnaround car for Jaguar, though a much riskier one than the F-Pace. The brand’s first zero emission vehicle marks a bold approach, and the learning curve ahead is steep, with issues such as scalability, battery life, charge time, performance characteristics, cooling, and packaging to be resolved.

Among the EV engineering solutions JLR developed with researchers at Coventry University are front and rear motors that are concentric with the drive shafts and deliver a total system output of 400 horsepower. Battery life is 186,000 miles—at least 800 charge cycles—and if one of the 36 cells or modules in the under-floor battery pack has a problem, it can be accessed easily via service panels.

Loosely based on the F-Pace’s aluminum-intensive D7a architecture, the I-Pace will be built by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. The initial production target is 15,000 units per year, but insiders say it could double with a modest investment. If the design catches on and the market demands it, Jaguar could launch a roomier, three-row version featuring a larger energy pack.