This Is The Next-Gen, All-Electric Jaguar XJ

Last July we had to wave a teary goodbye to the Jaguar XJ. The British answer to the Mercedes S-Class fell short of its arch German rival in many areas, but in terms of charm? It had that by the bucket load.

It’s a shame, then, that we’re still without a successor to the waftiest of Jags. But a successor is at least in the works, and it’ll have a very different ethos.

For its next generation, the XJ will be going all-electric. We’re unlikely to see it before 2021, but a test mule for the car has been spotted undergoing cold weather testing, giving us a sneaky preview. The camouflage is still pretty heavy at this stage, but we can see that the XJ is going to get an imposing, big-grilled front end. A little like a Bentley Flying Spur, we’re predicting.

Jaguar’s design boss Julian Thomson has previously called out rival manufacturers for designing ‘crude’ grilles to appease the Chinese market, so we (hopefully) don’t need to worry about the XJ going full 7-series on us.

Although elements of the hugely successful I-Pace will be sure to feature, the XJ EV will sit on a different platform to the SUV. It’ll be the first vehicle to use the new JLR’s ‘Modular Longitudinal Architecture’ (MLA), a multi-purpose setup which can accommodate electric, hybrid and mild hybrid powertrains. Jaguar is re-tooling its Castle Bromwich factory for the production of the platform and the cars it’s set to use.

The de rigueur dual-motor setup (one for each axle) is all but certain, and as for power, Jaguar may feel the need to chase the likes of the Tesla Model S P100D and Porsche Taycan Turbo S in the pokiest version. The first-ever all-electric Jaguar R? Quite possibly…