Autocar UK – 31 July 2019

10 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 3 1 JULY 2019

Δ companies’ requirements

for next-generation EDUs to

support this transition have

significant overlap, making

for a mutually beneficial

collaboration.”

The enforced move towards

electrification is proving

extremely expensive for

even the most profitable of

car makers. Even Mercedes-

Benz is seeing premium profit

margins vanish because of

the cost of new platforms and

electrification.

Autocar’s source claimed

that the latest move beyond

EDUs and into sharing engines

is intended to allow JLR to

reduce its investment in its

own Ingenium engine range.

That would then allow the

company to re-allocate

resources to the huge

costs involved in what JLR

calls ‘ACES’ (autonomous,

connected, electric, shared)

technology for future vehicles.

In truth, most models bigger

than a city car will probably

have to be plug-in hybrids to

meet the 2025 and 2030 EU

emissions regulations – and

that’s why the prospect of JLR

sharing the new BMW FAAR

platform is now on the agenda.

THE FAAR PLATFORM

BMW’s FAAR architecture,

s e e n m o st r e ce ntl y o n th e

new BMW 1 Series, has been

designed to accommodate

petrol, hybrid and full-electric

powertrains.

The FAAR transverse-

engined architecture will in

time underpin all front-wheel-

drive BMW models and Mini’s

e nti r e ra n g e. U s i n g i t wo u l d

dig JLR out of a significant

fu tu r e h o l e c a u s e d by th e l a c k

of a modern, compact, hybrid

platform for 2025 and beyond.

Adding JLR’s current

small and medium volumes of

250,000 to BMW’s 850,

or so production of front-drive

vehicles will be seen as a handy

boost. It would also integrate

FAAR family production at

BMW’s Oxford plant and JLR’s

Halewood facility, which

would be backed up by engine

and battery production at

Hams Hall and electric motor

production in Wolverhampton.

With the addition of two

small Jaguars and a baby Land

Rove r, FA A R p l a t fo r m vo l u m e s

could approach 1.5 million

annually by 2025.

The FAAR architecture looks

like a good fit for JLR because

i t i s ex p e c te d to s p a n c a r s s ize d

between 4.2m and 4.6m in

length. Smaller FAAR-based

cars are unlikely because the

need to package batteries in

the new models means there’s

a minimum length for the

architecture.

For example, today’s

Discovery Sport (4.6m) is

almost the same length as the

current BMW 2 Series Grand

Tourer. A Mini Countryman is

4.3m long and a Range Rover

Evoque 4. 37m.

The recently launched

second-generation Evoque and

updated Discovery Sport are

both built on JLR’s Premium

Transverse Architecture,

which, even though it has been

developed to accommodate

electrified powertrains, is

still an updated version of an

older platform. Using BMW’s

more modern FAAR platform

would potentially offer great

economies of scale, reducing

production costs.

THE NEW MODELS

Although details are very thin

on the ground, the new baby

L a n d Rove r i s l i ke l y to b e a n

urban-focused – although

still highly capable – compact

off-roader inspired by the

looks of the new Defender.

This potentially Freelander-

badged car would be able

to trace its roots back to

the DC100 concept of 2011,

which found favour for its fun,

compact design but not as a

replacement for the Defender,

as it was originally intended.

The two Jaguars are also

likely to be crossovers, one

more coupé-like than the other

a n d b o th s o l d a s p a r t of th e

Pace SUV family. Inspiration for

the lower-roofed new Jaguar

might come from the 2003

R-D6 hatchback concept, the

first Jaguar design of recently

retired design boss Ian Callum.

The names A-Pace, B-Pace,

New £24k baby Land

Rover will draw on

2019 Defender’s look

Baby Jaguars could

use same platform

as BMW 1 Series