Jaguar’s all-electric Tesla rival is likely to carry the I-Pace name when it makes its public debut at this autumn’s Paris Motor Show, it has emerged.
Sources close to the British brand revealed last year that it was working on a bespoke all-electric vehicle - likely to be a crossover - that would be a direct rival for the Tesla Model X. Now the company has registered a couple of significant names with the European trademark organisation: I-Pace and I-Type.
Both of these applications were made in December last year, under category 12, the internationally recognised trademark type for motor vehicles. Neither proposal has been confirmed yet but if no opposition is received in the next few weeks, Jaguar will have approval for use by April. It’s unclear if BMW has been consulted on the nomenclature, given its all-electric i3 and i8 models.
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Jaguar has flirted with electrification before - developing the radical C-X75 hybrid sports car that made its debut at the 2010 Paris motor show. That project was ultimately canned, although Jaguar did allow the vehicle to appear in the recent James Bond movie Spectre. It is believed that some of the C-X75’s front-end styling will be adopted by I-Pace, and that this development ultimately persuaded Jaguar to allow the car to make its big-screen appearance.
If I-Pace points to an electric SUV, then I-Type suggests that Jaguar is at least considering a proposal to produce an all-electric sports car. Such a move would make sense purely in terms of economies of scale, allowing Jaguar double the opportunity to sell relatively expensive all-electric powertrains. The SUV is expected to cost at least £70,000 - or more than the current range-topping F-Pace - while an electric sports car could conceivably top the £100k mark, north of the most expensive F-Types.
The electric Jaguars are almost certain to be built at Magna Steyr’s factory in Graz, Austria. The third-party engineering and manufacturing consultancy has experience with premium brands like BMW and MINI, and the smaller scale of its production line would be ideal for a niche model like an EV. The I-Pace is expected to use a version of the same all-aluminium architecture that underpins the XE and the XF.
Jaguar joins trend for premium brands going electric
Jaguar’s electric push is part of a rapidly developing trend amongst premium brands as they try to move beyond hybrid technology and stop customers from migrating to new start-ups like Tesla. VW has already announced that its next Phaeton will have an all-electric powertrain - which means that a pure-EV version of the next Audi A8 is all but certain. Audi also has the production version of the Q6 e-tron on the drawing board, preparing for a 2018 launch, while Volvo is also working on a pure-electric SUV that should arrive a year later.
The all-electric projects also tie in with Jaguar’s recent deal to enter the Formula E electric racing series. The firm will enter the 2016-2017 championship, which should start in Montreal this September and run throughout the winter - offering convenient promotional support to a car that is expected to make its public debut in Paris in October.
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