Jaguar TINKERS with the electric i-Pace to try and keep it selling

The electric Jaguar i-Pace gets a bit of an update with cosmetic tweaks, improved tech and a new range-topping i-Pace 400 Sport model.

It’s almost five years since the Jaguar i-Pace arrived, heralding a new electric age for Jaguar and promising to be just the first of a range of electric Jaguars, with an electric XJ already in development to follow up on the i-Pace’s market-appealing SUV with a range-topping EV saloon to show Telsa how things should be done. Sadly, things haven’t worked out.

Jaguar ditched the planned electric XJ and put itself into virtual hibernation, with a plan to relaunch in 2025 as a maker of luxury EVs and positioning itself alongside Bentley, with high-margin Jaguars delivering profitability on much lower numbers.

That ‘hibernation’ plan appears to have made any serious update of the i-Pace impossible, so Jaguar is trying to fight falling i-Pace sales – around just 8,000 in 2022 – with a bit of a titivate rather than a comprehensive overhaul as it tries to compete against more recent arrivals with newer tech, better range and quicker charging. 

The latest i-Pace titivate – following a 2020 update – delivers a smoother grille in grey, body-coloured bumpers and a new model range of R-Dynamic S, R-Dynamic SE Black, R-Dynamic HSE Black and 400 Sport, with the ‘Black’ models and UK-only 400 Sport getting a black exterior design package as standard, and the new 400 SPort getting a bootlid spoiler, 22″ black alloys and adaptive air suspension as well as heated leather performance seats.

Despite the titivations, the I-Pace soldiers on with the same 90kWh battery good for a 292-mile range and powering a pair of electric motors delivering 394bhp. Which looked impressive in 2018 – less so in 2023.

The refreshed Jaguar i-Pace is now on sale – with first customer deliveries expected in May – with prices starting at £69,995 for the R-Design S and rising to £79,995 for the 400 Sport.