In Pursuit of Bentley, Jaguar Leaves Gasoline Engines and Prepares for the EV Era

JAKARTA - Jaguar is preparing to step out of the shadow of BMW and step up to chase Bentley through a massive rebranding. The British manufacturer has chosen an extreme step by abandoning internal combustion engines entirely and putting all of its future on electric vehicles (EV).

Initially, the first production model of the new era of Jaguar was targeted to launch before the end of 2025, but its disclosure was reportedly postponed and will only be carried out at the end of this year. This radical change has made some Jaguar dealers wary.

German business newspaper Automobilwoche, citing a sales representative who spoke anonymously, said there was uncertainty about Jaguar's future strategy. As a result, dealers have to wait before making decisions.

"To be honest, there is currently no strong business reason for this brand. We have signed an agreement that we want to continue to cooperate with Jaguar in the future. However, whether we will fulfill this statement of intent will only become clear after we know Jaguar's future strategy. Then we can decide whether it is right for us or not," said the source, quoted from Carscoops, Tuesday, January 20.

Even so, not all parties view Jaguar's move as a bad signal. Andreas Everschneider, CEO of the German Association of Jaguar and Land Rover Dealers, actually calls this transformation an opportunity, although he still has big questions.

"This new beginning is an opportunity. But we don't know what will happen, how big the market is, or which customers will buy this vehicle," he said.

Interestingly, Everschneider also revealed an unusual sales strategy. Where, Jaguar is said not to sell its new electric grand tourer, but to rent it.

This rental business model is believed to be related to Jaguar's efforts to control the used car market so that the resale value remains high and in line with their ambition to become a direct competitor to Bentley. In the strategy of rising class, Jaguar is also reminded not to fall into the "volume trap" as experienced by Mercedes. Everschneider assessed that excessive production and the entry of volume-oriented models could erode the premium image, such as the criticism that had been directed at the A-Class. However, the reality is that some rival brands have also taken the same path, including BMW with the 1 Series, while Audi is even more aggressive through the A1 and Q2.

Automobilwoche said Jaguar's production target in this new strategy is only around 10,000 units per year. The figure is in stark contrast to the peak in 2018, when Jaguar, which is now under the Tata Motors umbrella, recorded sales of 181,500 units.

For comparison, BMW sold 2,169,761 units last year, Mercedes 1,800,800 vehicles, while Audi delivered around 1.6 million units. Since Jaguar is now targeting Bentley, a more relevant benchmark is the sales of the Crewe-based manufacturer.

Last year's data has not been released, but Bentley delivered 10,643 vehicles in 2024 and 13,560 units in 2023. Its best year was recorded in 2022, when sales reached 15,174 cars. In the midst of this major transition, Jaguar dealers are also reportedly not receiving training to target new consumer segments, although the process is said to start this month.