Jaguar explains why it’s killing off its only electric car to help it transition to an EV brand in 2025

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it will kill-off its Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV and combustion-powered E-Pace small SUV as part of a radical reinvention as a luxury EV brand next year.

Originally it was thought the I-Pace, in production since 2018, would live on. Instead, it’s being axed alongside the XE, XF and F-Type which all ended production last June.

There’s no firm date when I-Pace production ends, but JLR boss Adrian Mardell has explained why the pioneering battery-electric SUV will soon disappear from Australian dealers: money.

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Made on behalf of Jaguar by Magna Steyr in Austria, both the I-Pace and E-Pace have been dubbed by the British car-maker’s CEO has both being “zero-profitability products.”

Ergo, there’s little motivation within the business to keep on selling it, regardless of the brand’s 2021 declaration to transition to a full EV car-maker by 2025.

When production of the I-Pace winds up, Jaguar will just make and sell just one model globally – the F-Pace SUV.

It’s now the job of the F-Pace to bridge the gap and keep the brand alive until the 450kW four-seat battery-powered electric GT sports car rocks up in 2025.

Just a year later, Jaguar will launch its zero-emissions alternative to the Bentley Bentayga large SUV and then an even more luxurious battery-electric limousine will follow.

All future Jaguar models will be based on the brand’s all-new JEA dedicated electric vehicle architecture.

Last year Jaguar sold 21,943 F-Pace, 7,897 E-Pace and just 4874 I-Pace vehicles globally.

There’s no word on I-Pace supply in Australia but it’s thought the electric SUV will remain on sale here at least until the end of the year.

“We are eliminating five products, all lower value – none of those are vehicles on which we made any money, so we are replacing them with new vehicles on newly designed architectures,” Mardell told investors, according to industry newswire Automotive News Europe.

During the first half of 2024 JLR says its overall sales will continue to be dominated by the high-profit Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender, which accounted for 59 per cent of its 111,180 vehicles sold.