LONDON — Jaguar will leap back on to the world motorsport stage next year with the British luxury car brand announcing Tuesday it was entering the Formula E electric racing series.
“Electric vehicles will absolutely play a role in Jaguar Land Rover’s future product portfolio and Formula E will give us a unique opportunity to further our development of electrification technologies,” said Nick Rogers, JLR’s Group Engineering Director.
“In the next decade we will see more changes in the automotive world than in the last 30,” he added at a news conference in London’s Shard tower. “We believe electrification is the future.”
Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the group that includes former Formula One world champions Williams, will be technical partners to the Indian-owned company and much of the team’s work will be done at their Grove factory.
Williams chief executive Mike O’Driscoll is a former managing director of Jaguar, leading the company through the sale to Tata Motors in 2008. Jaguar also partnered with Williams on the development of their C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car.
The decision to enter Formula E was facilitated by the Italian Trulli team vacating one of the 10 slots.
Jaguar had a Formula One team from 2000 to 2004 after buying the Stewart Racing team but it wasn’t a success and was sold to Red Bull, becoming the successful Red Bull Racing team that won four straight drivers’ titles through Sebastian Vettel.
Jaguar, which won the Le Mans 24-hour race five times in the 1950s and again in 1988 and 1990, has not had a presence in motorsport since 2004.
Rogers said the latest foray, which will start when Formula E enters its third season in the latter part of the year, was “all about the technology development” rather than simply winning races.
Formula E launched in 2014 and holds one-day events in city centers around the world, with this season’s calendar including Beijing, Moscow, Berlin, Paris, London and Long Beach in California.
Leading manufacturers Renault, Citroen’s DS brand, Audi and India’s Mahindra are already involved.
Alfa Romeo could return to F1
Fiat Chrysler could bring the Alfa Romeo brand back to Formula One as a competitor to Ferrari, chief executive Sergio Marchionne said Monday.
“It’s incredible how the Alfa marque remains in people’s hearts,” Marchionne, who is also Ferrari president, told reporters in an end-of-season news conference at the Italian team’s Maranello headquarters.
“For that very reason we are thinking about bringing it back, as our competitor, to racing, to Formula One. It’s important for Alfa to return.”
Ferrari’s red cars have carried Alfa Romeo branding already this season. There were also discussions with Red Bull, that never came to fruition, about possibly using Ferrari engines with Alfa Romeo branding next year. Red Bull ultimately decided to continue with an engine provided by Renault.
Ferrari is due to supply three non-works teams — Swiss-based Sauber, American newcomers Haas and Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso — with their power unit next season, although the latter outfit will use a 2015 version.
Ferrari’s late founder Enzo Ferrari started out racing and managing a team for Alfa Romeo before setting up on his own in the late 1930s.
The first two Formula One world championships in 1950 and 1951 were won by Italian Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in Alfa Romeo cars.
The company supplied engines in the 1960s and 1970s and returned as a constructor in 1979 before again withdrawing at the end of 1985.
Fiat Chrysler has a 48 billion euro ($52.85 billion) five-year investment plan centered on turning Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Maserati into global brands.
