Electric luxury vehicle industry picking up speed
Big news came out this week that Jaguar will be an all-electric brand by 2025. That’s not very far off. Is it a smart move to commit to alienating gas loving car buyers completely? That’s up for constant debate. Personally, all I can say is a Jag won’t be in my future consideration. Meanwhile, its Land Rover brand will release its first all-electric vehicle in 2024. They have yet to confirm going all-electric.
I just haven’t had the desire for an EV myself, for various reasons. That’s not saying I don’t have interest in saving the environment – just do it sensibly.
Tesla has also been in the news this week, as they’ve passed Audi to become the fourth largest luxury auto brand in the U.S. Tesla calls its cars “premium,” and not “luxury” – which is good since they are really just more expensive than they are luxurious. According to 2020 auto research and data reports – the top three luxury automakers in the U.S. are BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, in that order.
Thankfully to date, BMW hasn’t made an all-electric commitment. By 2025, all Lexus models will have an electrified option. Mercedes says by 2022 they will be bringing more than ten different all-electric vehicles to the market. And Audi plans to bring 20 all-electric models to market by 2025.
Some cars I couldn’t imagine ever seeing “electric” in their specs, but times are certainly changing… fast. Speaking of fast, in 2020, the Italian brand Ferrari released the SF90 Stradale plug-in hybrid with a top speed of 211 mph. Prior to that, they produced the La Ferrari hybrid, though not a plug-in hybrid like the Stradale.
Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri says the Italian brand will never become fully electric. In fact, he has stated that the lineup of Italian beauties “won’t even reach 50-percent EVs”. In December 2020, Camilleri said a fully electric Ferrari model would happen “eventually” but “not before 2025.” Speculation is that a fully-electric Ferrari would ride on the company’s new GT platform that underpins the Ferrari Roma.
Currently, I enjoy driving my gas powered 2020 BMW 330i X-Drive. Maybe someday I’ll be persuaded into driving electric, or just won’t have a choice any longer – but I hope it’s at least a plug-in hybrid EV so I’m not quitting gas cold turkey.