EV

After 20% range reduction, I’m waiting for Jaguar to buy my car back

The waiting is the hardest part

Given that we know our I-Paces are doomed, owners really want to put this episode behind us and move on to new cars. But Jaguar has us in an indefinite holding pattern, and it’s frustrating.

In December, a Jaguar representative told me that a process specialist would reach out “within in the next few weeks to come to a final resolution.”

“Welp, here we are… Jan 2nd, and nothing from JLR on the buyback process or timeline,” wrote user copyNothing on the I-Pace Forum. “I hope this isn’t indicative of how things will proceed, but I’m not holding my breath that things will be easy.”

I’m not holding my breath, either. My last four emails to Jaguar—December 16, January 7, January 23, and February 12—all got the same reply: hang tight. “We do not have a current time frame for when a process specialist will reach out to you, but rest assured one will be following up with you shortly,” a Jaguar Land Rover case manager told me in an email.

A few I-Pace owners in California, which has the nation’s toughest lemon law, have reported progress with the repurchase. In the middle of January, I-Pace Forum user pan+kro posted that their buyback had been approved by JLR, and they expected to get around $38,000 for the car. This leads to another burning question.

How much for this gently used I-Pace?

The process would be less nerve-wracking if we had an idea of what Jaguar would offer to buy the cars back. As with every car, each day makes the I-Pace worth a fraction less than it was the day before—after all, each time you drive your car, it depreciates in value. But mileage isn’t the only factor in determining the value of a used car.

I headed over to Edmunds.com and discovered that my I-Pace would fetch $24,428 in a private sale. Ouch.

To determine a used car’s value, Edmunds takes historical data, dealer transactions, consumer feedback, and depreciation trends into account, along with mileage. Unfortunately for me, none of those data points work in the favor of I-Pace owners. Indeed, the battery defect is a major culprit in depressing the value of 2019 I-Paces. I asked Edmunds how Jaguar might come up with a fair valuation for the buybacks, especially as its actions are responsible for helping to depress prices.

Citing EV “rollercoaster” in US, BMW invests in internal combustion

bmw, Cars, Electric vehicles, EV, EVs, internal combustion, PHEVs, syndication / Shannon Garcia / February 11, 2025

“We anticipated that people wouldn’t want to be discriminated against because of the power train,” Goller said. “We’ve gone the path which others are now following.”

Analysts say BMW is better positioned than rivals to meet the EU’s tougher emissions targets without selling EVs at deep discounts. It is also less exposed to Trump’s tariff war since 65 percent of its cars sold in the US are built locally, and it is also a net exporter from the US.

“From an operational standpoint, I think BMW, outside China, is very well placed,” said UBS analyst Patrick Hummel. “They’re pretty much where they need to be in terms of the EV share in the mix.”

Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois has described BMW, which has in the past drawn criticism from investors for hedging its bets on power train technology, as “the most thoughtful [original equipment manufacturer] over the years.”

This year, the group will launch its Neue Klasse platform for its next generation of EVs, with longer range, faster charging, and upgraded software capabilities, which Houchois said would “consolidate a lead in software-defined vehicles, multi-energy power train, and battery sourcing.”

But China has proved challenging to the Munich-based carmaker. BMW and Mini sales in the world’s largest automotive market fell more than 13 percent last year to 714,530 cars, a more severe slump than rivals such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

Analysts at Citigroup have warned that BMW remains vulnerable to China, where intensifying price pressure in an overcrowded market has been forcing carmakers to discount prices. Sliding sales in the country, where BMW still delivers just under a third of its cars, “remains our key concern,” the Citi analysts said.

Goller acknowledged China was unlikely to return to the explosive economic growth that first attracted foreign carmakers to flood into the country.

“But we still see a growing market… and therefore, our ambition is clearly that we want to participate in a growing market,” he said.

Goller added that it shouldn’t come as “a shock” that Chinese brands were rapidly taking domestic marketshare from foreign carmakers.

“The cars are really good from a technology perspective,” he said. “But we are not afraid.”

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