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Originally Posted by David70
Interesting to see how poorly Jaguar is doing now. When Tata purchased them from Ford people kept saying how this was how it should have been done and Ford was the problem, now they seem to back on the path to not existing. Having a car almost completed and deciding to can it is a massive mistake.
I think the EV market will be tough for manufacturers like Jaguar. The problem is when you read a review on the drivetrain it is range and acceleration only. No transmission and the completely silent emotionless electric motor make it hard to love or hate any drivetrain. The differentiators between a Jaguar/MB/BMW/Audi or the more mainstream brands are only getting smaller and the low volume higher cost of the smaller brands make it difficult to survive. I have doubts about how BMW will survive long term against someone like VW/Audi as the scale of their production is so much better.
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You bring up a lot of good points.
Some time back, maybe late 2020, Toyota CEO commented on how pure electric car were ‘hype’. I think the infrastructure to charge and where the masses of people park their cars leaves a lot of questions for pure electric vehicles. And are we being over confident that batteries can increase in ‘useful’ range and decrease in ‘acceptable’ charge times.
And compare a BMW X3 or Mercedes E-class All-Terrain wagon to other similar vehicles in those price range and the BMW and MB products are very high quality.
If mild hybrid through small batteries and double duty starter motors could allow pure electric propulsion in city centers for a majority of inner city vehicles and we keep up with ever increasing emissions standards for ICE engines. Then having consumer choice and not outlawing ICE, which at this point can always be rescinded in jurisdictions that propose ICE bans, then most manufacturers can stay viable.
Maybe with the pandemic personal vehicles commutes will be a better choice than public transportation.