New Jaguar EV Will Announce In December: Will Jaguar Make It As An EV Only Vendor?

Next month, Jaguar is expected to announce its next-generation electric vehicle, a four-door GT slated to compete with the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan. I’ve owned two Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and currently drive an Audi E-Tron GT. I’m also the I-Pace moderator for the US Jaguar Forum and have been a Jaguar owner on and off since the early ‘70s when I worked in a Jaguar shop (mostly so I could afford my 1964 Jaguar E-Type Coup).

With this launch, they are planning to not only be an EV-only brand, but one up-market from where it currently is (below Porsche). Given they have discontinued all of their existing vehicles, including the electric I-Pace, and don’t plan to have their next new vehicle until 2026, this will be a tough pivot for them to execute as it will be tough for Jaguar dealers to remain in business for that amount of time without a new vehicle suggesting Jaguar may end up moving away from the dealer model. 

Why The Pivot Could Work

The problem we repeatedly see with everyone but Tesla and a few focused brands like Polestar is that car makers have been trying to blend ICE (internal Combustion Engine) car lines and EVs out of the same dealers. This results in sales and services that are still optimized for gas and not electric, making the buying and service experience less than ideal.

In addition, too often, brands try to blend luxury cars and mainstream vehicles under the same brand. Porsche tried this with the 912 and 914, Cadillac with the Cimarron, and Lincoln with the Versailles and none of those cars did anything but bring down the luxury brand. Mazda tried to go up-market with the Amati, and VW tried the Phaeton with an excellent W-12 motor, but they all failed.

If you want to push luxury, you have to focus on exclusivity because people are buying status and a premium dealer experience. If you go downmarket like Porsche did, you drive away premium customers. If you go upmarket like VW did, you won’t sell cars because the brand doesn’t convey the status connected to the premium price.

While Mercedes is a bit of an exception here, it is generally better to have a dedicated brand focused on the premium market so you can convey status and provide a far better premium experience to the buyer. Jaguar is doing that, and it is automotive marketing 101.

Why The Pivot Could Fail

If it weren’t for Tata's deep pockets, I don’t think this would work, not because of how they are creating a premium brand but because of how slow the pivot is going. Typically, you want to pivot quickly so your sales channel doesn’t have products to sell.

But the first new Jaguar isn’t due until summer 2026, and they are discontinuing all existing Jaguar car models this year. That is a long gap, and many loyal Jaguar buyers, like me, will surely end up buying cars from brands that have them to sell. Once a customer leaves a brand, it is exceedingly difficult to get them back.

As long as Tata is willing to write off a growing loss, it can do this by shutting down redundant dealers (which it has been doing) and keeping whatever dealers are left whole (I’m not aware of them doing this).

They could also shift to more of a Tesla store front model and sell direct but we just saw Fisker go under with a similar plan, however Fisker wasn’t as well capitalized as Tata is.

Wrapping Up:

I’m looking forward to the Jaguar launch in December, and I might consider trading my Audi in on one of the new Jaguars if the cars look unique and stand out with EV technology. With this restart, Jaguar can and is designing new cars from scratch using current EV technology, which could allow it to leapfrog other EV makers, advancing more linearly to preserve existing lines.

It will all hinge on the car they showcase in December. If it catches the kind of excitement that the old E-Type did (I still own one of these, though mine is highly modified), then I think they can pull this off. If the design isn’t compelling, I think they’ll be done. We’ll see next month. Here is hoping they pull this off because I still love the brand and would miss it if they shut it down.

Rob Enderle is a technology analyst at Torque News who covers automotive technology and battery development. You can learn more about Rob on Wikipedia and follow his articles on Forbes, X, and LinkedIn.