New electric Jaguar and Land Rover models to be built in SLOVAKIA? – UPDATED

It seems Jaguar Land Rover is in talks to procure batteries for its upcoming range of EVs, pointing towards the production of new EVs in Slovakia.

Update: JLR has been in touch and asked we post a statement from them. You can find it at the end of this article.

Car makers are moving quickly to deliver ever better electric cars as Governments push the EV agenda on motorists, and the biggest part of the equation of delivering the right product is sourcing batteries for all those electric motors.

In the UK, Nissan has that addressed with its own Gigafactory planned in Sunderland (owned by Envision), but it seems Jaguar Land Rover is unsure where it’s going to get its batteries from, and as a result casting doubt on where its future EVs will be built.

There has been talk of JLR building their own Gigafactory (also via Envision) for battery production in the UK, but now, according to Bloomberg, JLR are in talks with Nortvolt and SVolt Energy to supply batteries for a range of electric Jaguar and Land Rover models to be built in Slovakia.

Of course, JLR’s only electric car – the Jaguar i-Pace – is actually produced in Austria, and the Land Rover Discovery and Defender in Slovakia, but with JLR’s sales in the UK and Europe expected to be all electric by early next decade, moving electric production to Slovakia will be a big blow to the UK car industry.

In truth, the ‘talks’ and rumours of EV production moving to Slovakia could just be a ploy to garner more backing from the UK government for battery production funding.

Statement from Jaguar Land Rover

After we published this article, JLR has been in touch to ask we include a statement from them, which we’re happy to do. They say:

With our strategy for every single Jaguar Land Rover model available as a full BEV by the end of the decade, we will retain our plant and assembly facilities in the home UK market and around the world, as cited in the Reimagine strategy. We continue to explore all options around the supply of batteries. No decisions have been made yet.