Jaguar E-Pace 2022

 Let’s address the elephant in the room: what’s happening at Jaguar? Not a lot, it seems. At least on the face of it, although presumably the team at its Coventry headquarters are incredibly busy preparing for its reinvention, which is due in 2025. At that time, it plans to relaunch as an electric-only luxury brand on a par with Aston Martin and Bentley.

That seemingly doesn’t leave much room for its existing line-up, then, which is led by the Jaguar F-Pace, Jaguar I-Pace and Jaguar E-Pace, an example of which has just joined our long-term fleet. While it’s hard to see how these cars fit into the new line-up, they remain very relevant for the market right now, all SUVs for families, one fully electric and the other two with plug-in hybrid powertrain options.

Of the three, the E-Pace sold the fewest last year, although I would wager that’s because Jaguar directed its chip supply to the more expensive, profitable models and/or those (the I-Pace) that would help bring down its average emissions to avoid fines.

The E-Pace sold just over 3600 units last year – around the same number as its Porsche Macan rival but still nowhere close to sales of another foe, the Audi Q3.

This latest E-Pace even went so far as to adopt a new platform when it arrived last year as an update of the car that was launched in 2017.

It’s the PTA platform that was used for the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque overhauls of the previous year. Jaguar claimed the new underpinnings benefit handling, ride and overall refinement, but most importantly, it accommodates both mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains, which were crucial for the E-Pace to live on.

There are now five models available, all of them hybridised other than the entry-level diesel. Most are mild hybrid, but the range-topper (our car) is a plug-in hybrid.