Jaguar Land Rover and BMW Partner Up on Electrification

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems
jaguar land rover and bmw partner up on electrification

On the eve of D-Day, a British automaker and its German rival have teamed up to defeat a modern foe: spiraling development costs born of electrification. Europe’s going green these days, and the need to ditch diesel (and eventually gas) to satisfy the boys on Brussel, coupled with a general cooling off in Western demand, is placing strain on automaker budgets.

The cure, OEMs believe, is collaboration. In a world where BMW hopped into bed with its closest German rival on the mobility front, an electric powertrain partnership between Jaguar Land Rover and Bimmer doesn’t seem all that weird.

Announced Wednesday, the two automakers will join forces to develop next-generation electric drive units (EDUs) for a future crop of zero-emission vehicles. Both JLR and BMW have electric vehicles of their own (I-Pace, i3), with more on the way (iX3), but what both automakers want is the scale needed to make powertrain development financially viable.

“Joint investment in research & development, engineering and procurement will provide the necessary economies of scale to support increased consumer adoption of electric vehicles,” JLR wrote in its release.

EDUs will be developed by a team comprised of experts from both companies, JLR said, with assembly taking place at the companies’ respective production facilities. While Jaguar’s I-Pace earns high marks for its power, handling, and considerable range, it’s BMW’s upcoming iX3 that serves as the starting point for this venture. The model, due out next year, carries BMW’s “Gen 5” eDrive unit.

“The Gen 5 electric drive unit will be the propulsion system upon which subsequent evolutions launched together with Jaguar Land Rover will be based,” BMW said in a release.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a steep transformation. We see collaboration as a key for success, also in the field of electrification,” said Klaus Fröhlich, BMW board of management member in charge of development.

“With Jaguar Land Rover, we found a partner whose requirements for the future generation of electric drive units significantly match ours. Together, we have the opportunity to cater more effectively for customer needs by shortening development time and bringing vehicles and state-of-the-art technologies more rapidly to market.”

Nick Rogers, JLR’s engineering director, said talks between the two companies revealed “significant overlap” in electrification needs. As vehicles of a similar size and output were planned by both automakers, it was decided that pooling resources and fitting the models with the same propulsion system would prove “mutually beneficial,” he said.

No timeline is attached to the announcement.

[Images: Jaguar Land Rover, BMW Group]

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  • Drnoose Probably just cutting conservative talk radio off at the knees. They can’t beat it, so kill it one way of the other.
  • Teddyc73 Looking forward to this. Hopefully it doesn't succomb to the leftist agenda and only come as an EV. If there is a gasoline version and a decent sized bed I'll consider this to replace my Ram 1500 when the day comes. Please let it be available in colors other than the same boring ones Ram has offered for years.
  • Xidex i haven't even turned the dial to AM since the 90's I think at that time it was only because there is one station i liked was on the AM dial (it is no longer around) Someone had to point to the station otherwise i wouldn't have even scanned the AM dial. I still think the AM dial should be left on radios though, If no one listened to it then there wouldn't be any stations would there.
  • Kwik_Shift I have five AM stations preset, each different from one another in terms of content. Some politics, some day to day, some do it yourselfing or help. Focus is more on local news and events. FM is just about pushing crap music and djs pushing the MSM message for their corporate overlords. FM is about making radio sound exactly the same all over North America. I like ONE FM station that plays different varieties of country music and has an entertaining dj. Overall, to each their own.
  • Kat Laneaux What's the benefits of this as opposed to the Ford or Nissan. Will the mileage be better than the 19 city, 24 hwy? Will it cost less than the average of $60,000? Will it be a hybrid?
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