Traditional European automakers are increasingly prioritizing the development of electric cars over combustion engines as they seek to gain market share in a space dominated by U.S. upstart Tesla.
“It is quite clear the future will be electric,” Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover chief executive, told CNBC on Tuesday.
“We are going to deliver a step-by-step complete electrified portfolio and from 2020 onwards all of our cars will deliver the option to be electrified,” he added.
A global crackdown on diesel cars in the wake of Volkswagen cheating on emission tests has ramped up the pressure on automakers to rapidly develop electric alternatives.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Motor Show, Speth argued a collaborative effort between governments and energy markets would ultimately alleviate any lingering worries throughout the industry.
Several automakers have previously expressed concerns that a lack of infrastructure investment could stall the rollout of electric cars over the coming years.
“I am absolutely confident we will see battery cars faster than anybody expected on the street and therefore all of the infrastructure will catch up,” he added.
Traditional carmakers, such as Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Ford have all sped up their respective plans to mass produce electric cars in order to challenge the likes of Tesla.
“We have got an investment of about $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles coming over the next few years. And the first one of those for us, as a specific electrified vehicle in Europe, will be in 2020,” Steven Armstrong, EMEA president of Ford, told CNBC on Tuesday.
Armstrong explained the upcoming launch of Ford’s electric model would be a “cross-over” style vehicle with a battery range of about 480 kilometers.
Despite the buzz around electric vehicles, some automakers have expressed skepticism that consumers will embrace such cars immediately – especially given the current limitations in battery technology.
Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada told CNBC in an exclusive interview last week that while the Japanese carmaker insisted it would be “no exception” in the development of electric cars, he raised questions over “user convenience”.
On Monday, German carmaker Daimler warned that, at first, electric cars may only earn half the margin of equivalent vehicles with combustion engines.
Source: cnbc
'Future will be electric': European carmakers take fight to Tesla