Jaguar Just Canceled Two Of Its Most Important Future Models

Jaguar Land Rover is going through a major transformation. Last month, Jaguar announced an ambitious plan to become an electric-only automaker from 2025. Land Rover will still offer combustion-powered models but will launch as many as six electric variants within the next five years. As part of the company’s new Reimagine strategy, the all-electric Jaguar XJ has been canceled. This isn’t the only new model Jaguar Land Rover is axing, however.

Automotive News Europe reports that the development of vehicles based on the flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform supporting full-electric, plug-in hybrid, and combustion engines has been canceled. As well as the electric XJ, this platform was going to underpin the rumored low-riding Road Rover, but the electric SUV is no longer being developed.

It was never officially revealed, but reports suggested the Road Rover was going to be a low-riding electric SUV with a focus on luxury and comfort rather than off-roading. The Jaguar J-Pace, a large luxury electric SUV that would have been Jaguar’s answer to the BMW iX7, will also likely be scrapped.

In the future, the MLA platform will be reserved for large Land Rover SUVs including the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. From 2025, smaller Land Rovers such as the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport will use a new Electrical Modular Architecture platform. Jaguar Land Rover is also looking for a partner to develop a new electric platform for future battery-electric models.

Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Financial Officer, Adrian Mardell, explained that the MLA-mid program was canceled because the XJ and electric Land Rover would not meet Jaguar’s emissions and technology expectations. It’s a costly decision, as Jaguar Land Rover will write off $1.4 million of investment poured into the canceled XJ replacement and electric Land Rover.

“Reimagine is about being one step ahead on compliance. The current MLA program would not have done that for us. We would have been in catch-up in this compliance and that just isn’t good enough in this industry today,” said Mardell. The Chief Financial Officer added that the electric XJ “[would] not be ahead of the tech curve” and “wouldn’t have that modern luxury, that future Jaguar vision, that drop-dead aspiration that we need to make this brand work.”