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Jaguar Land Rover building new R&D center for hybrids, EVs, autonomous cars

The success of Jaguar Land Rover in recent years has largely been down to a resurgent product lineup, but a recent move into the research and development will see the British-based, Indian-owned brands take the fight to its German rivals more aggressively than ever before.
JLR is investing 50 million pounds ($80,345,000, as of this writing) in a joint R&D center in central England. The move will more than triple its staff dedicated to research, from 150 to 500, with Wolfgang Epple, JLR's Director of Research and Technology telling Automotive News Europe, "In order to play among the big animals in automotive and to be anchored in the mind of customers you have to have offered something unique, to be first in market. We want to be one of the key premier automotive manufacturers."
Jaguar Land Rover's 50-million-pound contribution represents more than half of the 94-million-pound tab, on the so-called National Automotive Innovation Campus. Based at Warwick University, Tata's European Technical Center, Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Higher Education Funding Council, an agency of the British government, are all chipping in for the facility.

Jaguar to sell all-electric cars by 2030, and six electric Land Rovers coming in next five years

Jaguar is making a big transition to become an electric-only car company. The switchover is meant to kickoff in 2025, and by 2030, Jaguar says 100% of its vehicle sales will be of electric models. Land Rover is taking a similar route, but to a lesser extent. The British off-roading brand says that it will introduce six pure electric variants in the next five years, with eyes on 60% of its sales being of electric models by 2030. Its first all-electric model will arrive in 2024, JLR said. An Automotive News report cites CEO Thierry Bollore, saying he expects "almost zero" production of cars with internal combustion engines by 2039, making that the theoretical end date of Land Rover vehicles with ICEs.  JLR, owned by India's Tata Motors, said on Monday the Jaguar brand will lead the way with a fully-electric model range built on a brand-new electric platform. The Land Rover EVs are to be built on a separate electric vehicle architecture to provide for "two clear unique personalities." The Land Rover EVs are said to be finding homes on both the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) and Electric Modular Architecture (EMA). Both support combustion engine layouts and full EV layouts, but the latter is said to be more biased toward EVs and to exclusively support "advanced electrified ICE." Both brands will be taking advantage of technology from within the Tata Group (JLR's owners) to make this transition happen. There's limited information on the future of certain models for the time being, but Jaguar did say that its previously-planned XJ replacement will no longer have a place in the brand's lineup. That said, Jaguar says the nameplate might stick around, with the assumption it could be used on an all-new future EV. Additionally, Automotive News reports that Jaguar will transition away from SUV-style vehicles, citing Bollore — the theory being that Land Rover takes over and completely fills that space in the future. We'll be wondering about what will become of the F-Pace and E-Pace. Our biggest Jaguar question concerns the F-Type, though. Will we get a fully electric version of the sports car in the future? Jaguar didn't address it, but we certainly hope so. JLR said that as it electrifies its model range, it will keep all three of its British plants open. But Bollore, who took over as chief executive in September, said the carmaker's Castle Bromwich plant in central England would focus on "non-production" activities in the long term.

Recharge Wrap-up: Jaguar Land Rover talks EVs, Batteries should be modular

A new study out of Germany suggests adopting a modular approach to battery offerings in plug-in hybrid and extended range electric vehicles. Automakers could offer the same car with different battery sizes (and different costs, accordingly) to drivers depending on their driving ranges. This would optimize the total cost of ownership for various drivers better than the current approach. Developing a modular battery design and offering appropriate batteries for different customers "is the key for electric powertrains to meet customer expectations and become cost competitive against conventional technologies," according to the report from the Institute of Vehicle Concepts, German Aerospace Center. Learn more at Green Car Congress. Jaguar and Land Rover are looking to offer more electric driving from their vehicles. Wolfgang Ziebart, head of product development for Jaguar Land Rover, said in an interview that its hybrid system is being tweaked for more electric power and "downsized" combustion. He also said the likely target market for EVs would be second and third vehicles, rather than primary vehicles for urban driving. Within that market, Europeans look for something smaller, while American drivers lean toward larger luxury vehicles for their second car. Ziebart uses the Tesla Model S as an example of American tastes, and compares its size to that of the Jaguar XJ. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Thailand will likely approve a Volkswagen factory as early as next week. A German newspaper suggests that Thailand's Board of Investment is set to greenlight the plant, which is planned for a site near the Port of Bangkok. Thailand is a relatively large and growing auto manufacturing country, which seeks to be a major producer of eco-friendly vehicles. The country's "Eco2" program would provide incentives to Volkswagen if it builds clean cars and meets certain production targets. Read more at Reuters. Formula E has chosen Sky Deutschland for broadcasting rights in the German market. The deal includes television rights, as well as online broadcasting. Sky Deutschland has 3.8 million subscribers in Germany and Austria. Showing the races on Germany's largest pay television provider should help generate interest for the series, particularly the Berlin ePrix - the inaugural season's penultimate race - scheduled for May 30, 2015. Read more at the Formula E website.