Jaguar I-Pace Deliveries are Lagging by Almost 50%
Jaguar Land Rover isn’t alone in its slow EV sales; only one rival is selling in decent numbers.
It might have garnered far more than its fair share of automotive awards, but the Jaguar I-PACE is nevertheless failing to live up to its maker’s expectations, according to comments from executives at one of the company’s key suppliers. Speaking at an investor event in New York City on Tuesday, as first reported by Bloomberg, American Axle & Manufacturing CEO David Dauch revealed that I-PACE sales are barely half those for which Jag had planned, but that the company is far from alone in struggling to grow its volume in the burgeoning EV market.
In comments at Wolfe Research’s Global Auto, Auto Tech and Mobility Conference in New York City, Dauch told investors that “We just launched our first electrification program in 2018 with Jaguar Land Rover on the I-PACE. That’s received tremendous accolades as relates to not only the vehicle, but also the technology.
“Our technology’s up for [an Automotive News] PACE award; we’ll find out here in March whether … we win that or not. But at the same time, reality sets in and the planned volumes for [Jaguar Land Rover] have come in about half of what they originally expected. So we’ve had to adjust our business accordingly.”
Dauch went on to note, however, that this problem certainly isn’t unique to Jaguar Land Rover. In fact, he says, only one rival has so far been able to buck the poor EV sales trend, and even then after considerable effort.
“I think that’s just a reflection of where electrification is, period,” continued Dauch. “The Volt was that way, the Bolt was that way, the Leaf has been that way. The only thing that has really met its numbers — and it took some time to meet [them] — was Tesla.”
And he’s clearly well-positioned to know what he’s talking about. As revealed last year, American Axle supplies the e-AAM Hybrid and Electric Driveline system which powers the I-PACE. Together, the front and rear electric drive units supplied by AAM — which are based around permanent magnet motors designed by Jag itself — can deliver 400 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. The units were designed and engineered at AAM’s Trollhättan Technical Center in southern Sweden, and production takes place at the company’s Świdnica Manufacturing Facility in southwestern Poland.
First shown as a concept at the 2016 Los Angeles Motor Show, the I-PACE reached the market in the second half of 2018. Since then, it’s been showered in dozens upon dozens of awards, including a hat-trick of wins at 2019 New York Auto Show, 2019 European Car of the Year and 2019 German Car of the Year.
Worldwide, more than 24,000 I-PACE units have been sold to date, of which just shy of 3,000 units were delivered in the US market. But while that presumably leaves Jaguar Land Rover at least 20,000 units behind its sales goals, there’s still plenty of opportunity for it to carve out a larger piece of an ever-larger pie. After all, the EV market is still forecast to grow significantly in the coming years.
And Dauch told investors as much, noting that “We’re not here to argue electrification. We’re here to say that electrification is here, [and] it’s only going to grow going forward. It’s especially concentrated into luxury passenger cars today. It’s going to go heavily into the front-wheel-drive passenger car, which to American Axle is a whole new market … that we’ve never really participated in historically.”
While the I-PACE may not yet have met Jaguar Land Rover’s sales targets, the positive press it’s generating for the company nevertheless bodes well for the future of its EV offerings in a market where, thus far, it seems no manufacturer has been faced with smooth sailing and eager buyers.
Photos: Jaguar Land Rover