Jaguar Land Rover will disclose its future electrification plans during an investor day at the end of the month.
JLR needs to inject momentum into its Jaguar brand and accelerate its push into electric cars as governments introduce tougher measures to reduce climate-changing CO2 emissions. Rumors have circulated in the motoring press that the automaker could make the Jaguar brand all-electric.
The company has struggled financially in recent years as its vehicles sales fell in the key Chinese market at a time when it has also had to invest heavily to keep up with bigger rivals such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz in the shift to electrification.
To preserve cash during the COVID-19 crisis, JLR delayed plans to launch a Jaguar XJ full-electric sedan, the Jaguar J-Pace, and a Range Rover EV, according to press reports. JLR's only full-electric car is the Jaguar I-Pace crossover launched in 2018.
Since former Renault No. 2 Thierry Bollore, joined as CEO in September JLR has communicated almost nothing about its future plans.
When questioned about JLR's future electrification plans, Chief Financial Officer Adrian Mardell told analysts to expect an update during the investor day on Feb. 26. "Be excited. I'm simply going to say that we have a super investor day set up," Mardell told investors on an earnings call on Jan. 28.
The company will give a full outline of "how we are thinking, how we are shaping out and what you should expect," Mardell added.
JLR's pretax profit was 439 million pounds ($603 million) in its latest quarter ending Dec. 31, 121 million pounds higher than the same quarter a year ago, despite a 9 percent drop in global vehicle sales.
The quarterly results were helped by the automaker's Project Charge+ turnaround program, launched after the company had a 3.66 billion-pound loss in its 2018/19 financial year.
Land Rover's new Defender also gave JLR a boost during the quarter. The new generation of the iconic off-roader overtook the Range Rover and Velar to become Land Rover's fourth-best selling model over the quarter, JLR figures showed.