Jaguar Land Rover could soon develop a part-petrol road car despite planning to go completely electric, according to reports. The British brand is reportedly drawing up plans for a vehicle powered partly by a combustion engine, which will be known as a “range-extended electric vehicle”.
This is likely to have a small petrol engine fitted to charge the main battery. But the component could be fitted to ease drivers’ concerns about running out of power. According to experts, an additional petrol engine could extend the range of new Jaguar cars by around 400km, rising from 700km to 1,100km.
However, the move could be seen as a major U-turn for the brand as cars will no longer be considered fully zero-emission.
Despite The Sunday Times reports, Jaguar seemed to suggest that nothing was changing, although they didn’t deny a petrol-powered car was in the works.
In a statement to Express.co.uk, a spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover said: “Our plans to reinvent Jaguar as an electric-only luxury automotive brand are unchanged. Last month, prototype passenger rides received overwhelmingly positive reactions from global media, and we are looking forward to unveiling the first new electric Jaguar later this year. ”
The rebrand was quickly blasted, with many considering the new approach to be “woke”. Last year, Rawdon Glover, managing director of Jaguar, seemed to suggest that Jaguar had made mistakes with the rebrand.
Rawdon told Autocar: “The past is vital after all, we’re in our 90th year but perhaps we haven’t explained well enough that Jaguar shouldn’t want to repeat itself. It’s not in our DNA. Look at the step from E-Type to XJS.
“One of my key learnings since we first showed the Concept 00 a year ago has been that we didn’t take enough time to explain why Jaguar had to change. When you lay that out clearly, people tend to get it.”