Jaguar switched gears and announced that by 2025, 100 percent of their new vehicle sales will be all electric, zero-emission vehicles. 

“The day has come to think of the future,” said Jaguar CEO Thierry Bolloré as he announced the company’s decision to phase out internal combustion engines. Bolloré also said that the Land Rover line will be 60 percent made up of electric vehicles by 2030. 

Their Reimagine campaign prioritizes sustainability and aims for net-zero carbon emissions across its supply chain, products and operations by shifting to an “electric-first business,” said the campaign’s webpage. This is a historic shift for the 86-year-old luxury car brand. 

“We have all the ingredients at our disposal to reimagine the business and the experiences our customers seek, to reimagine the benchmark of luxury” said Bolloré. To tackle the large-scale transformation, the CEO has given full-range creative freedom to his designers and engineers. 

Over the next five years, JLR’s Land Rover brand is expected to release six pure electric models, the first one being in 2024.

Part of the company’s switch to an electric-only vehicle platform includes moving car production from JLR’s Castle Bromich factory from east of Birmingham, England to Solihull, England. The location near Birmingham will be repurposed, possibly for battery production. 

According to Reuters, JLR will spend about $3.5 billion annually on zero-emission technologies and development. “With this strategy we will have positive cash net of debt in 2025,” Bolloré confirmed.

Shares in Tata Motors, the Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar Land Rover, rose as much as 3% after the announcement.

In 2019, Jaguar’s only electric vehicle currently on the market won a World Car of the Year award. 

Now, the global race to develop zero-emission vehicles has one more competitor, putting pressure on other automakers to follow.