Brace Yourselves: The Next Jaguar XJ Will Be Fully Electric

According to reports, Jaguar's next flagship will be powered by electricity, and electricity alone...

22 Jan 2018

Brace Yourselves: The Next Jaguar XJ Will Be Fully Electric

When we drove the shouty, supercharged V8-powered Jaguar XJR 575 last year, there was a sense of finality about it. After all, Jaguar’s supercharged V6s and V8s will be nearly gone by the time the XJ’s replacement finally arrives, and big, many-cylindered engines are quickly going out of fashion in our age of increasing electrification.

However, it’s looking like the next XJ won’t be powered by an internal combustion engine at all. Autocar reports that - having deliberated on the future of the XJ for some time - Jaguar has settled on replacing it with a fully electric vehicle.

A radical move, but then Jaguar does seem to be being quite ballsy when it comes to EVs - the I-Pace for instance (below) will beat all its conventional rivals to market. And speaking of the I-Pace, it’s from this incoming electric SUV - due in March - the next XJ is expected to plunder its powertrain.

Given that the base I-Pace is expected to have a twin-motor, 395bhp setup as a starting point, the future XJ isn’t exactly going to be wanting to poke. The prospect of Tesla-rivalling levels of power in an R-badged version certainly shouldn’t be discounted.

However the line-up takes form, we may not have long to wait for the first one to arrive: according to Autocar, we could be seeing it as soon as the fourth quarter of 2018, ahead of a 2019 launch.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

More reasons to hang myself then, lol

This is the midway point of Jaguar’s slow and agonising death, before they realise it.

Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. I give up on Jag, I loved their engines, even the base 3.0l Diesel version my neighbour has. But this is just… urgh. Also these types of cars are often driven on long journeys with execs in the back, and a 3l diesel which can travel like 700miles in one go make much more sense than an electric which will go 300miles before needing a half hour fillup.

Lets hope that the report by Autocar is wrong. It would be a shame if Jaguar ruined the XJ lime that.

Of all the Jags that could go electric, the XJ is probably the best bet. In a car like that, weight doesn’t matter much and noise is considered undesirable. Just please keep the V8 for the F-Type.

I disagree. The XJ is a cool car which is comfortable, classy, good to drive, and is actually cool, meaning it is bought by at least some car enthusiasts. They should have made the SUV’s electric, because they’re aimed at non-car-people anyway.

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