Jaguar to team up with Chery on electric cars – report

British luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover is planning to join forces with electric car maker Chery to make new models – the earliest of which could debut before next year, reports claim.

According to reports out of China, in which Chery is the third-biggest vehicle manufacturer, Jaguar plans to use Chery's hybrid and electric technology to create its new models. The first such car could be a new fully-electric or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUV, reports 36kr.

Speaking to the Chinese publication this week, head of Chery, Yin Tongyue, said “there is a high probability that two European luxury brands want to use our platform” – with Jaguar being touted as most likely one of those car makers given its existing relationship with Chery.

This new electric vehicle platform-sharing scheme was also confirmed by a company representative quoted during a recent presentation, saying that two premium European automakers were interested in the Chery E0X architecture for their high-end cars, according to InsideEVs.

JLR and Chery’s business dealings go back as far as 2012, with the two companies currently also building vehicles together in China, and now it's believed an electric SUV from Chery's Exceed brand could underpin a Jaguar product debuting before the end of the year.

At this stage it’s not known when the first Chery-based JLR electric or hybrid cars will officially be revealed, but the British automaker has announced that it plans to launch six pure-electric models by 2026 across all of its brands.

The first will be an all-electric Range Rover, which should be revealed later this year, but we don’t yet know if it will be built on the Chery platform.

The final Jaguars with petrol and diesel power are due to roll off the production line as soon as June this year, before a range of new, more expensive electric cars arrives next year.

All new Jaguar models will be electric, as the British brand is 'rebooted' with more expensive, more luxurious and more profitable cars targeting Bentley and Porsche – after its current models failed to gain traction competing with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

The relaunch of British luxury car maker Jaguar will begin with a four-door electric car with Tesla-like driving range, Porsche performance and a price tag likely in excess of $200,000.

It remains to be seen if the vehicle will come to Australia though, as Jaguar says the new model will initially be sold only in "selected markets".

Meanwhile, the last new Jaguar V8 to join showrooms before the car maker goes electric within the next 12 months is now on sale in Australia.

The F-Pace SVR 575 Edition is marketed on the Jaguar Australia website as "the final Jaguar V8", and is the most powerful iteration of the supercharged, now-423kW performance SUV yet.