Next-gen Velar to be first EV SUV from JLR's Halewood plant

Jaguar Land Rover, which has rebranded itself as JLR, has confirmed that the next-generation Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Discovery Sport SUVs will be electric only. The brand has also announced that the Velar will be the first of these SUVs to roll out of its Halewood Merseyside plant in the UK in late 2024.

1. JLR is focusing on EV SUVs due to the market shift
2. EMA platform could spawn as many as four new EV SUVs
3. First EMA-based SUV to come by late September 2024

JLR future electric SUVs to use EMA platform

The next-generation all-electric Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Discovery Sport will sit on an all-new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform, which JLR had previously planned on using for its hybrids. JLR's new CEO Adrian Mardell had told investors last July that the new EMA platform is being put through its engineering approval process.

Mardell had said this in response to the way the market had shifted so dramatically towards electric that it now made sense for the brand’s future midsize SUV models to do the same. He also confirmed that “three vehicles, maybe four” would be built on the EMA platform, which includes the next Evoque and Discovery Sport.

First EMA-based EV SUV likely to be a Range Rover

The first model to come from Halewood will be “from the Range Rover family”, according to a JLR statement, and our sister publication Autocar UK has learnt that the first model will be the Velar, not the Evoque, which will be out in its second generation guise in late 2024. The identity of the fourth model is not yet known, but it opens up the tantalising possibility of a smaller electric Defender, as well as an additional model in the Discovery range. The new models would use batteries sourced from a new European Tata gigafactory, but until then, they would be from an external supply contract JLR has already secured.

Halewood plant to be upgraded to build EVs only

Autocar UK had reported last year that JLR had started converting its Halewood plant to build electric vehicles last year. The extended shutdown period to convert the plant will happen in 2024, according to sources, and JLR has said that cars based on the EMA platform will arrive in the same year.

Halewood’s confirmed role in building electric cars will ensure its future is secure. The factory was opened in 1963 by Ford, which retains part of the site for building gearboxes and they will invest £380 million (around Rs 3,885 crore) repurposing it as an electric drivetrain factory by 2024.