Jaguar Land Rover has said all of its vehicles will be available in electric or hybrid models from 2020 as it becomes the latest car-maker to move away from internal combustion engines.
The company’s first fully electric model will be the Jaguar I-Pace, which will go on sale next year.
JLR chief executive Ralf Speth said: "Every new Jaguar Land Rover model line will be electrified from 2020, giving our customers even more choice.
“We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles.”
The announcement from Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, follows a similar pledge from Volvo, which plans for all its new cars to have an electric motor from 2019.
Earlier this year the Government announced proposals to ban the sale of conventional combustion engine cars and vans by 2040 as part of efforts to tackle air pollution and climate change.
JLR, which increased production by 11 per cent last year to 544,000, also said it will develop a driverless car dubbed “Future-Type”, which features a talking steering wheel that can “summon your car, play music, book you a table and even knows what’s in your fridge”.
At the Tech Fest technology event in London where the E-Type Zero has been revealed, the company is also showing its Future-Type concept car, an all-electric semi-autonomous vehicle that looks beyond the notional 2040 cutoff for internal combustion engines.
Jaguar is very specific that the Future-Type is designed to be semi-autonomous, and not fully robotic. The idea is to let the car take the strain for boring bits (traffic, city driving etc) and the driver can take over when the road gets interesting.
“Today, Jaguar offers customers a dynamic, emotional experience. Whether it’s the exhilarating way they drive, the way they sound, the iconic design or the connection drivers feel with the road, customers tell us that their Jaguar makes them feel special. With the Future-Type we’ve been investigating how we can keep this emotional connection in a future world where people may choose not to own a car, or when a Jaguar is an autonomous, on-demand vehicle,” said Jaguar’s chief designer Ian Callum.
- (Additional reporting: PA)
