Electric Jaguar XJ flagship to compete with Tesla Model SElectric Jaguar XJ flagship to compete with Tesla Model S

Jaguar Land Rover plans to launch its new flagship with a jolt. At a recent investor day, the company said its new flagship XJ sedan will launch first as an electric model, likely in 2020. Models with gas engines are expected to follow. 
The automaker previously announced it will offer electric and plug-in hybrid versions of every model it sells by 2025. The new XJ is expected to be the first of those models based on a new modular architecture designed to accept both electric and gas platforms.
The electric XJ will likely have a 90.2 kilowatt-hour battery with a targeted range of 292 miles, according to Nick Miles, JLR’s head of product engineering, as presented at the investor day. That range is likely on the somewhat optimistic new European WLTP driving cycle.
The new “Modular Longitudinal Architecture” is unrelated to the platform underpinning Jaguar’s electric I-Pace, which is built at a Magna-Steyr contract manufacturing facility in Austria. The XJ and vehicles on its modular MLA platform will be built at Jaguar’s home factory in Solihull, England.
2020 Land Rover Range Rover
The new platform will also underpin two new SUVs from Range Rover, a new flagship Range Rover in 2021 and a new Range Rover Sport a year later, according to a report in Automotive News Europe (subscription required.) Both Range Rovers will be offered with plug-in hybrid powertrains, and at least one of Range Rover’s four models will include a fully electric option.
Both the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport currently include plug-in hybrid options, but they’re based on an older platform, one not shared with Jaguar. The new plug-in hybrid models are expected to achieve a slightly longer electric range.
The MLA platform is expected to replace five platforms the company currently uses, but may not be the company’s only electric architecture. Outgoing design head Ian Callum told Automotive News that the I-Pace platform is also likely to continue to underpin new, updated electric models.

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