Inside JLR’s Decision—and What It Means for the Industry
By The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
If the electric vehicle revolution were a sprint, you’d expect brands like Jaguar Land Rover to lead the pack. But now JLR is hitting the brakes delaying its electric Range Rover to 2026, stalling two new Jaguar EVs, and reevaluating other electric rollouts. This isn’t just about batteries or engineering. It’s a larger signal one flashing brightly across the luxury auto landscape.
1. Testing Takes Time
JLR’s upcoming EVs are its first entirely developed in-house. They’re prioritizing durability, safety, and precision engineering a move that suggests a longer game, not a rushed rollout.
2. Demand Isn’t What Was Promised
Despite a waitlist of over 60,000 for the electric Range Rover, the broader luxury EV market is cooling. Buyers are hesitating. Sticker shock, charging infrastructure gaps, and consumer fatigue are real—and spreading.
3. Profits Still Come from Gas and Hybrid
Internal combustion and hybrid vehicles remain cash cows. JLR, like many others, is choosing financial stability over experimental overextension. It’s not retreating—it’s regrouping.
A Pattern Across the Industry
JLR isn’t alone. EV fatigue is setting in across the automotive world:
Ford slashed F-150 Lightning production and forecasts up to $5.5 billion in EV losses by 2025.
GM delayed the Equinox EV and Silverado EV and redirected $4 billion to more gas-powered SUVs and trucks.
Mercedes-Benz is backing off its all-electric pledge, opting to continue producing combustion engines into the 2030s.
Volkswagen has cut EV shifts and delayed model launches in Europe due to softening demand and price competition from China.
Tesla, the poster child of EVs, has cut prices repeatedly to maintain sales. Meanwhile, its regulatory credit revenue—a key profit source—is projected to collapse in the next two years.
Rivian and Lucid, two of the most hyped startups, are burning through cash, cutting production targets, and laying off workers to stay afloat.
The Big Picture
-
Luxury EV Hype Is Slowing: High-end buyers are becoming more cautious. They want reliability, not novelty.
-
Margins Drive Strategy: Car companies need to make money. Right now, that means selling gas and hybrid models while refining their electric futures.
-
Politics & Policy Are in Flux: EV subsidies and mandates are being re-examined. If those incentives collapse, so will parts of the market.
The Craig Bushon Take
JLR’s delay is not failure it’s foresight. The electric future isn’t dead, but it’s not going to arrive on schedule just because government edicts or ESG investors say so. Automakers are waking up to a basic truth: demand must drive supply not the other way around.
If EVs are truly the future, then the market not mandates will prove it. Until then, smart companies are slowing down, staying flexible, and refusing to bet the factory on fantasy projections.
This isn’t the death of EVs. It’s the end of blind faith in them.
