I have read everyone's comments and as always appreciate everyone's differing yet equally valuable points-of-view. I am fortunate to have a close friend who works in management at the Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham and would just like to raise awareness of the impact these changes are having on their workforce. Covid was a big hurdle to get through, but the pulled-together and made it through. It was hoped that CB would manufacture the new electric range of Jaguars, but the differing manufacturing techniques mean the costs of reconfiguring theplant are too high to be economical - it takes a lot to bring a WW2 shadow factory that built Spitfires and Lancaster bombers and then was the home of Fisher & Ludlow (Pressed Steel) and then ultimately Jaguar into the electric age... despite all the robots, people still build these cars. With the announcement that there will be no new model to be built at CB, it is now going to be a "support plant" for other production facilities - you can imagine the shivers going through the workforce upon hearing that one! Future technology changes have always been a part of our story, but there is always an impact on workers in industries where their skills may not necessarily be transferrable.
Just a few observations, through the lens of an Australian...
Currently here, our petrol (gasolene) costs between AUD $1.13 and $1.53 per litre (we have a "price cycle"... don't even get me started on fuel company price gouging...).
Vehicle registralion for a 6 cylinder (eg: my XJ Series 2 and 3 cars) is AUD $939.60 each per year (this does not include insurance).
We no longer have any local vehicle manufacture in our country, all vehicles are now fully imported and obviously this leaves us vulnerable to supply and compliance issues with overseas legislation to stop ICE manufacture.
Bearing this in mind, it seems that here we are seeing a surge in the value of classic ICE vehicles and this seems equally driven by people my age (50's) who are the traditional "classic car" buyer in Australia but also surprisingly by people in the 20's who have a passion for what they see as nostalgic vehicles. As a result, values of classics have almost doubled and in some cases tripled in the last 5 years. Perhaps some of you may see similar trends in your countries?

 

Can you contact your close friend at Castle Bromwich and let him know that a build order for an F Type R in British Racing Green with the Windsor tan all leather interior is in the build queue in a few weeks for a Yank from California and to keep an eye on the workforce to make sure that they don't start slacking off knowing that their jobs will be phased out ?

But seriously, if they will be switching to all EV's from a different plant by the 2025 model year, they should still be building Jaguar ICE models at Castle Bromwich for at least another 3 years.

 

Yeah. Wouldn't want the wrong badges put on the back or anything like that :/

(My 2016 came with the wrong badges on the back, plus a couple of other QC issues, but they were minor and it's been a great car.)

 

Hmm, do you think the structural changes should be any cause for concern? I also have a build in the queue at Castle Bromwich and couldn't help but wonder if the workers will still be incentivized to produce the same quality workmanship in the coming weeks/months as they have in past years. This will be my first new car as well as my first F-Type. I'm sure I'm just being mildly paranoid however couldn't help but to have this thought when I heard of the changes coming. Great timing on my end!

 

Not really! I have only driven the EV 2800 miles in the year I have owned the car. The tax is considerably more than I would have paid driving a similar sized ICE vehicle paying 26 cents per gallon.

 

They are going to go broke being woke.

Too bad.

They're a hilarious joke of a shell of what they once were... now they're a pandering bunch of sissies, it'll be fun to watch them fight over the few crumbs that are left.

 

I'm counting on it. The rise in classic car pricing is taking place... but painfully slow.

 

I live in Vegas and Lake Mead is not at 50%! Also intakes are fine as a good part of them are blocked but available below the water line. That is not say there hasn't been a large reduction in the lake level. I think the tax support of our roads is an interesting problem to have to address. I believe there will be extensions on alot of time lines as long as they are moving along.

 

I have no need to buy any new cars. In the process of doing a frame-off resto on my ‘76 FJ40, the ‘90 1500K is still running strong, I got a brand new engine in the F-Type and the’02 JCW only has 160k miles on it. That fleet will keep me going for the next 25 years. Next stop: pearly gates.

 

With regard to the Polestar, just the fact that it has an affiliation with Volvo should be taken as a warning. Of the three dozen or so automobiles I've owned in over 50 years of driving, nothing, and I mean nothing has ever been as dreadful, unreliable, and worthless as the three Volvos we owned in the mid 1980s. None of them lasted more than about one year in our households, and one didn't make it from the dealership to the freeway onramp across the street. Why did we make the same mistakes three times, one might ask? Because we bought them all at once, three different models, and all were trash. I don't believe electric vehicles will be more than a bridge to hydrogen powered vehicles for a relatively short period of time. Essentially the time it takes to set up a hydrogen delivery system infrastructure. There are over 1 BILLION ICE powered vehicles roaming the world today. Does anyone believe that wind and/or solar power is ready to ramp up production enough to power an extra billion cars. Right now in California, where I live, due to mandates that a higher percentage of the power that supplies our needs must be met by renewable sources, we have rolling blackouts with a much greater frequency. And even solar and wind plants are coming under criticism because of the tens of thousands of birds being killed every year. I believe Hydrogen will be the longterm solution if indeed, we are even allowed to own private automobiles. Municipalities, states, and even countries may outlaw individual driving in the future regardless of the power source. And think about what you do with a billion battery packs that can no longer be revived and what its effect on the environment might be.

 

Yeah we had volvos before we became a Jag family - V40T5 CC, 2 s40's (2004 shape), s60R, c70T5 (previous shape, quite a looker). Before that I'd had a 760GLE that I essentially inherited, that was a very unreliable car.

The c70T5 was very reliable, so was the s60R. The s40's had software issues and the rotors warped very quickly in the second one (a 2009 model T5), though I gave it to my mum and it is still being driven today quite reliably, I expect it has well over 150,000km on it. The v40T5 CC had some build quality issues, a missing heat shield in the centre tunnel made driving it very toasty before it was identified. But the terrible turning circle of all but the 2004 shape s40's was really a killer for using them as a daily, too hard parking them.

 

I had a 2012 Volvo XC90 that I ordered in from the factory on the Military Overseas Program. That allowed me to pick a interior/exterior color combination that you couldn't get from the dealers. Taking delivery in Charleston (we lived in Savannah) was a disappointment as the dealer really didn't prep the car other than peel the plastic off. Told me that the manuals, spare key, floor mats, etc. were in the rear compartment by the battery. Thanks buddy. I was told that the dealers didn't like to do factory purchases as they didn't make any money off of them. Outside of that, the XC90 was a fantastic vehicle. Never a single problem. The included 5yr/60k mile maintenance even provided new brakes and wipers. We drove the vehicle all over the country from Savannah to LA and back, Chicago, and all places in between. Even took it off road a bit to see what it could do. Not bad considering. We only got rid of it because it had 100k miles and I was taking a job that would have me out of the country quite a bit. Wanted the wife to have something new with a warranty. Many years ago my wife had an XJ8 and loved it. She lamented at the time that she wished Jaguar made a SUV. Fast forward to 2017 and what perfect timing. She loved her '17 F Pace S and was hard to convince to trade in for the '20 SVR unless it was the same color, along with that gorgeous interior. All that to say I only ever had one Volvo, but it was a great car.

 

Owned a 2012 S60 and a still have a 2017 S90. Only issue has been warped rotors on the S90 that were replaced under warranty.

One thing that impressed me about the S90 was subsequent model years had additional advanced safety features that our first model year car lacked. I was able to add those features to the car via a software update.

 

I can not think of anything but Crazy People:

Here's Jaguar:

 

I like that strategy,
I won't rule out an EV at some point, but I'll have ICE rides to take me TO THE END. The F-Type's a keeper. I still love my 05 Saab Aero vert. Last week I got in line for a CT5-V Blackwing 6MT. And the spouse will need a new wagon in a few years. Thinking maybe an E63 S....

 

Windmills may not be the best method to generate electricity. I do not believe that they are. But the arguments repeated above are not valid.

For example, according to the Sierra Club, "Estimates of 140,000 to 500,000 birds a year are killed by turbines in the US but that is far exceeded by collisions with communications towers (6.5 million); power lines, (25 million); windows (300 million); and cats (1.4 to 3.7 billion) and those lost due to habitat loss, pollution and climate change. (American Bird Conservancy) Even if there were twenty times more wind turbines, enough to supply the US with electricity, the number of birds killed, assuming no improvement in wind turbine design, would be about 10 million--still far less injurious than most other causes of bird deaths." ... "Wind turbines can be removed when something better comes along. The habitat destruction and pollution from coal, oil and gas extraction and burning, building of pipelines and other infrastructure plus negligence and accidents is very difficult, even impossible in many cases, to undo. For the sake of birds, the environment and nature's beauty wind and solar power are a vastly better choice than coal, oil and nuclear energy." https://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/...birds-and-bats

And according to an article in Newsweek, "In Northern Europe, wind power operates very reliably in even colder temperatures, including the upper Arctic regions of Finland, Norway, and Sweden. As long as wind turbines are properly maintained and serviced, they can operate reliably in temperatures well below zero." https://www.newsweek.com/texas-wind-...arctic-1570173


TL;DR Getting rid of power lines, windows, and cats would save many, many more birds than windmills are likely to kill. Lubricating your windmill with summer weight oil in freezing temps will make it stop turning.

 

Never a Volvo fan. Not that they weren't good cars, but being touted for safety, they tended to attract safety minded (slow) drivers. Seemed I was always behind one on freeway entrance ramp..

Had a buddy with with a white 850 back in the day. Used to tell him all it needed was ice and water in the door!
It was a pretty nice car for that era and relatively quick, but boxy.

 

I feed A LOT of birds. 60lbs of bird seed per week in the winter. I have a lot of really big windows. Probably pick up a half dozen dead birds per year. Many more I see come to and fly away. With some I have be the grim reaper. We should outlaw windows for sure.

 

I'm certainly no fan of Volvos (perhaps the least exciting car EVER), but I think a bit unfair to condemn them because of examples from 3-1/2 decades ago. As Jag owners, we risk calling the kettle black.

 

I still have a 2004 Volvo V70R in Passion Red with a Saddle interior. It brings a smile to my face every day I drive it. Some tech I wish my other cars had. Simple, straightforward. I still get offers for it. I will acknowledge it has the same turning radius as a Chevrolet Suburban, but the turning radius does not seem to have adversely affected the sales of that model.