We may be locked down again, but the UK car industry has not been sitting quietly at home streaming box sets. Huge strategic shifts have been put into action.
In the last few months Bentley has declared it will move to being an all-electric brand by 2030, Autocar revealed Rolls Royce is working on the ‘Silent Shadow’ EV and now Jaguar is to be completely re-invented as an EV brand from 2025.
All three moves are partly inspired by think-tanks and future-gazers who are convinced that there’s a new niche market on the near-horizon for ‘environmentally-friendly super-luxury’, for want of a snappier term. Gilt without guilt, you might say.
Of course both Jaguar and Bentley have struggled to become sustainably profitable over the last few years.
Indeed, Bentley was publicly berated by members of the VW Group’s main shareholding families back in 2018 for not being constantly and sustainably profitable.
And 20 years of Jaguar trying, and substantially failing, to become a decent-selling alternative to the ubiquitous German executive saloon also has to be the primary factor in this latest reinvention. In truth, Jaguar had nowhere else to go. And perhaps Bentley didn’t either.
But these two British brands may yet have a solid future by getting on to the beginning of a new trend, rather than struggling to make headway from a tiny base in the mainstream premium and luxury markets.
And while I doubt Rolls Royce’s position is under much examination at the BMW headquarters, even it is having to steer into what appears to be the prevailing wind.
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Whatever Jaguar produce, they can rest assured that Cropley will give it 5 stars. No matter what.
I hope Jaguar don't try to go it alone with their electric platform, architecture and software; when they could buy the stuff off the shelf - VW are licensing fuse of their MEB platform to Ford and Elon Musk has said he's open to Tesla collaborating with other manufacturers. Go on Thierry Bollore - pick up the phone.
Electric Jaguar is little more than a fever dream at present. They can't even confirm what segments they will be in, except that they won't be pressing ahead with a new XJ (the longest running of all their nameplates).
Rolls Royce couldn't make an EV Phantom work, which when you consider how most Rollers are used seems bizarre. Bentley will just whatever their VW masters allow. And Aston seems worryingly close to climate change denial.
The car industry is undergoing radical transformation. There's little sign that UK brands will be anywhere near the front.
It's not that they couldn't make an electric Phantom work - they could, and did. But the business case at the time didn't work. Customers weren't asking for an electric Phantom. In the next five to ten years things will be different. Both RR and Bentley are working on EV's. So your assumption is incorrect.
Wait until your customers are on board and you've missed the boat. No one (especially not Americans) was asking for a 5m long electric hatchback in 2012, but Tesla built one anyway. Less than 10 years later they have the world at their feet. Most Rollers travel relatively short distances between airports, hotels and offices, are garaged at night, and the silence and instant torque of electric motors are ideally suited to the brand. RR claim to know their customers, and I'm sure they do, but they missed a golden opportunity. This doesn't give me confidence that they are going to lead us anywhere.