Jaguar May Be Late to Formula E, But There’s a Reason for That

By Adam Pockross - October 18, 2016

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Considering how far Jaguar had gotten from their historical motorsport roots, we’re revved up that Jaguar decided to dive into the third season of the uppity all-electric motorsport series known as Formula E. But why did they wait two full seasons to take the plunge?

Well, for one, the series still had some kinks to work out, like how to successfully balance a global broadcast feed with well-timed commercials. But mostly it has to do with the fact that in the second year of racing, instead of using stock cars, teams were invited to tinker with things a bit, including the powertrain. And that freedom to innovate is even greater in the third season, which has attracted not just Jaguar to the lineup, but also BMW. And Mercedes-Benz is planning on joining soon.

“Rather than just racing for the sake of it, we wanted to race for the reasons that are true to our ethos, which is about proving our technology on the race track for the road,” Panasonic Jaguar Racing director James Barclay recently told The Verge. “That work led us to identify Formula E, and to really ratify that Formula E was really the perfect next step for us.”

And those aren’t just words. Last December, after Jaguar took over Trulli Formula E team’s vacant spot, we soon found out that the marque was working on some all-electric vehicles to charge up the lineup, including a new SUV slated for 2018. And you can bet the new all-electric road-going Jags are going to learn a lot from the Formula E team.