In 1922, William Lyons and William Walmsley crossed their path together and just like today's young people, these two young men have found their own like-minded partners and started the journey of riding sidecar motorcycles.
However, no one would have thought that this small workshop, named Swallow Sidecars at that time, would later become a famous sports car brand – Jaguar, and soon it will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Surprisingly, before this important date, they made another huge announcement. Recently, Philippe Robbercht, head of the Jaguar brand of the French market, said in an interview with Le Monde that Jaguar will stop launching any new models before 2025. It is in order to concentrate on the research and development of electric vehicles, to be able to compete with brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley and Maserati in the future.
Earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore also expressed Jaguar’s plan to relocate the brand’s position and enter the high-end market, SUV will be exclusive to Land Rover and Jaguar will take a completely different road to high-end electrification.
Jaguar is the combination of speed and beauty, it is always running on the race track.
Like almost all car companies in the early days, Jaguar was initially based on R&D performance. And the only way to test performance is to constantly prove yourself on the racing field. This has been the lifeline of this brand since the beginning of its car manufacturing.
Success is not something that can be accomplished overnight, it requires energy and patience. 1935, SS – Jaguar's first 2.5L displacement sedan debut in London. How awesome was this car at that time?
In 1936, a car journalist won the International Alpine Car Test Race with a Jaguar SS; Sammy Newsome, boss of a car shop and a theater in Coventry, won Shelsley Walsh Ramp Race with it too; A year later, an individual contestant even won the RAC car with the fierce competition of numerous manufacturers' teams.
However, these are also depending on the drivers’ skills and abilities, the brand needs a stage that can truly prove the strength of itself. It was not until 1951 that C-TYPE won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in 16 years. Jaguar had been making great preparations to achieve this goal.
During these 16 years, Jaguar increased its displacement of the 2.5L engine to 3.5L; and during the Second World War, it developed an inline six-cylinder engine; it also designed the XK120 sports car in 1949. Although the world was extremely difficult during that period of time, Jaguar's desire to design better products was never stopped.
The constant pursuit of performance will also lead to another thing – aesthetics. In the 1960s, Jaguar began to transform the design of traditional cars in order to cater to the rising tide of aerodynamics at that time. Therefore, the E-TYPE model which was called "the most beautiful car in history" by Enzo Ferrari was born.
Since then, sleek lines, slippery back, low lying tires, and the lower ground clearance of the chassis have become a dominant gene of the sports car. Of course, in the subsequent historical process, Jaguar is still constantly refreshing the record of speed.
In 1988, three years after Jaguar’s founder Sir William Lyons passed away, the XJR-9 with a 7.0L engine regained the championship at Le Mans; and two years later, Jaguar’s XJR-12 became Le Mans championship again.
In this process, all the pursuers of high-quality products in the world have realized what kind of brand Jaguar is. Even the British royal family adopted it as the royal car.
Although the quality is good and even being recognized by the Royal family, another unavoidable problem is still there, good products don’t always equal good sales and good corporate revenues. This can be seen from the sale of Jaguar to Ford and Tata. Enterprises need performance and high-end quality, but when the operations aren’t going well, these are also the first to be discarded.
Now, it’s the wave of electric cars that wants to abandon them.
In fact, Jaguar was not planning to stick to internal combustion engines before as well. This can be seen from the launch of the C-X75 electric concept car at the Paris Motor Show in 2010.
Of course, product ideas and business ideas are not completely the same thing. Jaguar, which has been winning honors on the track for decades, will naturally continue this path.
In September 2016, Jaguar released I-TYPE, the first pure electric racing car in the brand's history, and a month later, it was on the Formula E track, completing its debut in the field of pure electric racing.
Their plan is simple. They copy the technology used in race cars to the public car, and use races to promote the development of the brand's electrified product route. In fact, Jaguar has a comprehensive plan, half a year after the release of i-TYPE, they launched a brand new pure electric car-I-PACE.
In fact, the I-PACE is a pretty good car, with a 90kWh lithium-ion battery. Even today, it is still considered as a very good battery. In addition, the imported version has a battery life of 456km, and Jaguar has been dedicated to driving control tuning for decades on the track. Once it was launched, it gained great reputation and feedback in the market.
So the advantages of Jaguar’s plan to be focused on the R&D of electric cars are obvious. Because the resources are limited, it is more productive to focus on one new area. At the same time, for Jaguar fans, a new product that presents Jaguar’s spirit well will be sure to make them anticipate.
However, the challenge is also there. From now to 2025, it is the prime time for all manufacturers to seize the opportunity of new energy. During this period of time, new brands might quickly occupy the market, and old brands have to maintain their market share.
As for Jaguar, who’s planning to not produce any new products (just redesign of some existing models) and gradually reduces its production capacity, obviously will lose the most precious time to make an impression on the public's mind.
Therefore, what makes most people curious is what Jaguar is planning to do during this period to keep making good impressions on the public and what’s the stunning result Jaguar is going to show us in the coming 2025.
