Jaguar is the latest automaker to say it will cease building gasoline and diesel engines, but the small British brand’s announcement has set an unusually aggressive target start date: 2025.
That’s the year when Jaguar says it will begin shifting away from gas and diesel engines as it plans to electrify its cars, with a goal of dropping gas engines entirely by 2030 and shifting its operations to be carbon-neutral by 2039.
The year 2025 may be close, but Jaguar is a small brand and its ability to pivot to making vehicles without tailpipe emissions will be easier than a giant automaker like General Motors, which has said it will transition toward all-electric for most models by 2035.
The shift at Jaguar may start at the top with a new full-size model that could revive the long-running XJ luxury sedan. Jaguar currently offers just one electric model, the roughly $70,000 I-Pace. A new all-electric XJ sedan had been planned for launch as early as the end of 2021, though Jaguar said that model has been shelved.
Sister brand Land Rover — which outsells Jaguar by about four to one in the U.S. — offers several hybrid vehicles but no pure electric model. However, Land Rover is poised to introduce its first all-electric model in 2024. The electric Land Rover will share its underpinnings with Jaguars, though the automaker hasn’t said what form it might take.