Jaguar's New Panthera Bespoke EV Platform Is Key To Upmarket Push

Will the first vehicle built on it be another crossover or an ultra-luxurious sedan?

Jaguar XJ Electric Sedan Spy Shots

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Feb 2, 2022 at 5:25am ET

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Jaguar surprisingly canceled its Mercedes-Benz EQS rival, the all-new XJ (pictured), just as it was nearing the end of its development cycle and announced it was rethinking its EV strategy. The brand also announced that it was repositioning itself as a more luxurious automaker than before and now we have just learned about its new bespoke EV architecture that’s integral to the strategy of going upmarket.

Called ‘Panthera’, it will underpin all Jaguar models launched after 2025, the year when the automaker intends to switch from internal combustion engines to fully electric vehicles. The reason why Jaguar is working on its own platform also has to do with the unique look and proportions that it wants to give its future EVs and the manufacturer says this could not have been achieved on another automaker’s platform.

Gallery: Jaguar XJ Electric Sedan Spy Shots

Jaguar XJ Electric Sedan Spy Shots

Jaguar will still have ICE vehicles in its range in 2025, but it won’t launch any new ones after that point. And the automaker’s only current EV, the I-Pace, will stay on sale until then, or even after, but it will be quite different to what the manufacturer has planned next, and it will be treated as a different model.

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It’s also worth noting that the I-Pace isn’t actually built by Jaguar, but by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. It is also not built on a bespoke EV platform, but on a variation of the group’s D7 platform (D7e), that also underpins Jaguar’s sedans, as well as Range Rover and Land Rover models.

So what will Jaguar’s first Panthera-based EV and when can we expect it? Well, we don’t know but based on market preference, it could be some sort of high riding corssover-type vehicle. It will probably arrive in 2025, one year after the first fully-electric Range Rover debuts, but it’s not out of the question for Jaguar to launch an electric sedan first, to fill the void left in its range by the stillborn electric XJ.