CONNECTED CAR
Behind the Scenes of the First Electric Jaguar An Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart, Technical Design Director, Jaguar
Nick Dimbleby
Nick Dimbleby
David Shepherd
By Michael Coates, Automotive Editor
Jaguar’s foray into the electric vehicle world started almost casually. Tesla’s Model S sedan had recently hit the market – and hit it hard. Traditional vehicle enthusiasts as well as environmentalists fell in love. Rumbles reverberated throughout the automotive world. At Jaguar Land Rover, the Indian-owned classic British brands, several top executives huddled and decided they must take a new, electric direction. “Let’s do an electric car,” was the go statement Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart remembers as the start of the I-Pace. Ziebart said Jaguar’s Design Director Ian Callum did the initial sketches himself. It was a clean sheet of paper design, something Dr. Ziebart says was critical for the company’s approach to an allelectric car. As Dr. Ziebart told Innovation & Tech Today in an exclusive interview, Callum handed off the sketches, which depicted a crossover that didn’t resemble a traditional car, yet held an
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unmistakable Jaguar look but with an uncharacteristic short nose. The design team built one model (rather than the usual several iterations). Management made a bold decision to move forward. Four years later, the I-Pace electric crossover is now arriving at dealerships around the world, wowing journalists and building up a quick constituency embracing Tesla’s first serious competitor. Dr. Ziebart occupies a unique position at Jaguar. His title is Technical Design Director for the I-Pace; previously he was JLR’s Director of Global Engineering. His resume includes extensive experience with BMW as well as suppliers Continental and Infineon and a stint with an electric car startup.
Rethinking the Car; Rethinking the Company That an established car company like JLR was
able to produce a solid, competitive EV is not that remarkable. That they were to go from sketch to production in four years is a revelation. Dr. Ziebart shared some of the story behind what he called a corporate culture change at the storied automaker. The small I-Pace team, when it was created, quickly moved to an off-site location to be more focused on its new product. The new location has one large room where things moved along faster than a normal project because of the size of the team and its sole focus. Ziebart said one key element of the new structure – and differentiator from the traditional corporate culture – was a new structure for problem solving. All the people involved were in the same room, so problems were solved more quickly and thoroughly. The team was arranged based on its different communication needs, a logic not typically found in corporate office structure.
