Jaguar is hanging up the keys to V8 and stepping into an electric future
The makers of the iconic Jaguar have seen the future and it’s electric, but that doesn’t mean ignoring past glories.
“We are coming to the end of something, but not the end of everything,” says Rawdon Glover, brand managing director of Jaguar. Glover has been with Jaguar’s parent company Jaguar Land Rover for more than a decade, but was promoted to the top job at Jaguar earlier this year to oversee the marque’s transition to becoming an all-electric brand in 2025. From that date on, Jaguar, a company that was founded in 1935 by William Lyons and its reputation built on luxury saloons and high-performance petrol-fuelled sports cars, will no longer be in the business of producing combustion engine powered vehicles. “It’s a reset of the brand, but it’s a reset on steroids,” says Glover.
Jaguar’s repositioning as an all-electric brand was announced in 2021 as part of an overarching corporate strategy of Jaguar Land Rover, a British luxury car company that also produces the Range Rover and Defender vehicles and their variants. The Jaguar vehicle line-up as we know it today will no longer exist and will be replaced – initially – with three new all-electric vehicles in 2025 (the first of those models will be unveiled next year). The JLR plan announced in 2021, called Reimagine, includes significant changes for other brands in the group as well – for example, it will produce six new all-electric vehicles for Land Rover within five years, and will aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039 – but the most substantial shift is for the Jaguar brand.
JLR has been tight-lipped about the Jaguar transformation, but here’s what can be gleaned from a survey of motoring blogs and websites: the brand will be all-electric by 2025, and it will do that with an entirely new vehicle line-up. The current Jaguar internal combustion engine models will be scrapped. The only existing model Jaguar that will possibly remain is the I-Pace EV, which debuted in 2018. Jaguar won’t be buying a third party produced EV platform to power its cars but is instead developing one in house. And with the shift to EVs, Jaguar cars will become significantly more expensive than they currently are. The entry price point into the Jaguar brand is expected to double, and the marque will be positioned closer to other British luxury car companies such as Bentley, Aston Martin and McLaren. But before that happens, Jaguar is having some good old-fashioned petrol-fuelled automotive fun.
The last combustion engine to roll off the Jaguar production lines at the company’s Castle Bromwich plant in the UK is the five litre V8 2024 F-Type, which the company describes as “the definitive Jaguar sports car that stems from a rich bloodline of performance vehicles”. The launch of the 2024 F-Type, which the company is calling the F-Type 75, marks 75 years of Jaguar sports cars, which started with the XK120 in 1948. There are two variants of the latest model F-Type, a coupe and a convertible, and both are also available in an F-Type R 75 Special Edition (which comes exclusively in all-wheel drive with a supercharged V8 423kW engine). “For 75 years, Jaguar has been renowned for producing extraordinary sports cars that deliver performance, agility and maximum driver reward,” says Matthew Beaven, Jaguar Land Rover’s chief designer, exteriors. “The F-Type special editions hold true to these principles, adding unique interior and exterior design details to celebrate this lineage.”
The fun comes in the sound the car makes when you hit the ignition – the unmistakable and throaty roar let out as the powerful V8 engine fires up. “You might think of a V8 as a bit of an anachronism today, as we move to an electrified future,” says Glover. “But there is definitely a customer out there who loves the theatre of a V8 and the beautiful noises it makes as you move through the gears.” It’s a feeling that will be no more as the F-Type comes to the end of its life cycle, and in many ways the final model F-Type is Jaguar’s last stand before the nature of automobiles changes irrevocably. “But it’s a nice place to end with all the history that we have in sports cars. The customer for this car is somebody who really appreciates that. You get many other things with electrified cars, but for that audience, that sort of thing isn’t something they will be able to replicate,” says Glover.
To launch the last petrol-powered Jaguar, the company chose a location that has become synonymous with open-top sports car driving, the Côte d’Azur in the south of France. And judging by the dozens of luxury supercars lined up in the long-term carpark at Nice airport, the idea that the area is a playground for the world’s rich people in their expensive sports cars seems to be the reality. “We chose this part of France because there’s just something quintessential about the light, the roads, the weather … it’s very evocative,” says Glover.
It’s easy to see why the world’s wealthy keep their dream machines under wraps in Nice as the roads are perfect for putting a supercharged sports car through its paces. You might not get anywhere near the top speed of even the most modestly powered vehicle, but you can certainly take full advantage of the car’s handling – and sheer good looks – as you wind your way around the coastline.
The F-Type 75 and the F-Type R 75 special editions are distinguished by their unique interior and exterior design elements, and carefully curated specifications. There are discreet badges on the front fenders that depict the vehicle’s unmistakable silhouette, and both models have 20-inch gloss black wheels in five-spoke and 10-spoke designs, respectively. The car interior is crafted in tan or black leather with eye-catching stainless-steel tread plates. Both models are also available in a deep Giola Green metallic paint colour that is not available on any other Jaguar model.
Our journey in the F-Type 75 started at the striking modernist Maybourne Riviera Hotel, nestled on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Mediterranean with views to Monte Carlo on the right and the Italian Riviera to the left. Our first stop was the town of Menton and the Michelin-starred Mirazur restaurant, which was crowned number one in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in 2019. Nestled on the mountainside facing the sea, Mirazur is housed in a restored and converted 1950s building and helmed by its founder, chef Mauro Colagreco. Depending on the day, Mirazur offers diners a sensory experience based on the elements: roots (for Earth), leaves (for water), flowers (for air) and fruits (for fire). The ingredients are harvested directly from the garden and the dishes are meticulously assembled, playing with shapes as well as colours and textures.
Understandably, the day’s lunch was paired with a selection of non-alcoholic beverages. From Mirazur, guests were invited to make their way along the coastal road through Monaco and the town of Monte Carlo, and gradually back to the hotel.
-
It may not be the fastest drive in the world to test out a sports car, but the meandering road takes in some breathtaking scenery along the way – then there is the jaw-dropping spectacle of Monte Carlo, which is like a supercar- and people-watching paradise.
-
But will the nostalgia of days gone by with the summer wind in your hair and the sound of a V8 behind you be enough to get Jaguar aficionados to snap up what is ultimately the end of the line? “We certainly hope it will,” says Glover. “We saw it on Defender [the new iteration of which debuted in 2020] when we said, right, this is the last of the previous version, and we were absolutely blown away by the sheer level of demand. We saw something similar when the XK8 was run out, our previous two-door sports car for the brand [and its first V8 sports car]. So I think because this is the last opportunity to own the last model Jaguar with a combustion engine, it will be good for us to tap into that emotion.”
When it comes to the new all-electric Jaguar in 2025, Glover says the company’s approach to selling it will be more in line with luxury fashion brands than automotive ones. “I think there are lots of really great analogies in the luxury space, such as the likes of Burberry’s reinvention,” he says, pointing out the British fashion brand’s deft mix of heritage and modernity. “It was William Lyons who said that Jaguars are a copy of nothing, and that sentiment has absolutely fuelled the new design [of the electrified vehicles]. In that sense we are really respectful of our heritage, it’s important for us, but I think if you want to be a progressive brand and you want to evolve, you can’t be harnessed by it.”
Every single aspect of the customer experience will be reinvented with the all-electric Jaguar launch. “You have to create a completely different ecosystem of products and services, and then deliver them in a way that is much more akin to what luxury retail brands are doing, not what luxury automotive brands are doing,” says Glover. The very nature of car ownership, he says, will evolve. “The younger generation coming through might not want a relationship with Jaguar, they might just want to rent one, or subscribe to one, for three or six months. Just how quickly it will evolve, we will see.”
Innovations are also happening at Jaguar, according to Glover, on the issue of the range of electric vehicles and the charging times and infrastructure. “We are looking at services that could be something like a concierge,” he says. “[It could be a situation] where somebody comes and charges your vehicle for you at your home if you live in an apartment. Those sorts of services already exist today, but they are quite small and niche. We are tapping into the very specific needs of the EV driver, which will explode over the next five to 10 years. We’re chipping away at the resistance and nervousness around fully electric vehicles.”
When being of good cheer means shifting through the gears
Whatever way you’re celebrating the festive season, let’s reflect on those less fortunate in Brunei, where it will be Christmas-less but at least you can spend the day admiring the Sultan’s cars.
When you have more money than sense, try a Pagani Zonda
It’s reputedly got the same power as a turbo-prop aircraft and probably flies faster when it leaves the road and buries itself in a tunnel wall. Life flashes by quickly behind the wheel of a Pagani.