Range Rover launches first fully electric model
The vehicle is being built at JLR's manufacturing plant in Solihull, in the West Midlands.
Range Rover has introduced its inaugural all-electric model, following a year-long postponement from its initial launch schedule.
The Range Rover Electric, slated for production in Solihull, signifies a pivotal advancement in the brand's electrification strategy, supported by extensive enhancements across its West Midlands facilities. This unveiling occurs as parent company JLR navigates declining profits, disruptions in its supply chain, and organizational restructuring in the wake of a cyberattack last year.
JLR stated it has trained 10,500 employees for electric vehicle manufacturing as it advances its modernization initiatives, despite recent financial strains and anticipated job reductions. The company confirmed that new battery and electric drive unit production lines are bolstering this launch, alongside the training of approximately 9,000 Solihull-based employees in electrification, with an additional 1,500 trained throughout the region.
The Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, operated by JLR, is now manufacturing battery packs and electric drive units in addition to internal combustion engines.
Martin Limpert, Range Rover's managing director, characterized the new model as the culmination of ten years of "considered engineering."
JLR's expansion into electric vehicles follows a challenging year, which saw first-quarter profits fall to £66 million due to a fire at a crucial Norwegian supplier. The company is also undergoing restructuring, confirming that fewer than 300 positions will be eliminated, less than a year after a cyberattack halted production for over a month.
Following the release of its results, the Coventry-based carmaker expressed confidence that new product introductions would position "JLR in good shape whilst acknowledging the continuing geopolitical, inflationary and regulatory challenges the industry faces."