Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has announced its return to global motorsport with the innovative FIA Formula E Championship.

FIA Formula E is the world’s first global single-seater championship for electric powered cars. It offers a unique opportunity for Jaguar Land Rover to further the development of future EV powertrain including motor and battery technology.

In the autumn of 2016, Jaguar is set to enter the FIA Formula E  Championship as a manufacturer with its own team, said a senior official.

Nick Rogers, the group engineering director for Jaguar Land Rover, said: "I am proud to announce Jaguar's return to racing with an entry into the innovative FIA Formula E championship. 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."

"The championship will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions," he noted.

Rogers pointed out that over the next five years more changes will be seen in the automotive world than in the last three decades.

"The future is about being more connected and more sustainable; electrification and lightweight technologies are becoming more important than ever as urbanisation continues to increase," he noted.

Formula E, said Rogers, had recognised and reacted to these trends and the championship's exciting and pioneering approach is the perfect fit for our brand.

According to him, Jaguar Land Rover employs over 8,000 engineers and is the UK's largest investor in research and development across any business sector.

"Its Formula E team will be able to draw upon this industry leading resource with Jaguar Land Rover engineers working closely with the race operations team," he said.

Those engineers will not only be able to apply their knowledge within the race team environment but crucially use the experience to extract data and push the boundaries of electric technology in a performance environment, he added.

Williams Advanced Engineering will be technical partner to the Jaguar Formula E Team and provide extensive  motorsport knowledge, combined with high performance EV Systems experience and success.

The luxury carmaker has a long term relationship with Williams, who partnered with Jaguar on the development of the C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car. The team entry has been granted by Formula E and approved by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag said: "We are delighted to welcome Jaguar into Formula E. It is a brand with a rich sporting heritage and the fact that it is returning to global motorsport with Formula E is a huge endorsement of the championship and its ability to influence the development of electric cars."

"Jaguar brings with it a passionate fan base that will drive the popularity of the championship across the world and once again shows that Formula E is the future of motorsport," he added.

Jean Todt, the president of the FIA said: "The FIA is pleased to welcome Jaguar as a new manufacturer to enter the FIA Formula E Championship. We built this series to offer an alternative competition for manufacturers to step into the sport and develop road-relevant electric technologies."

"The choice of Jaguar to come back to motor racing with Formula E is a proof of success. As it forges a path forward for the future of the electric car, Formula E managed to attract one of the most prestigious and historical brand across the automotive industry. I wish them success ahead of their arrival in 2016/2017," he added.   

James Barclay, Jaguar team director, said: “We looked in detail at alternative ways of returning to motorsport. This was such an important decision for Jaguar and we wanted to get it right."

"With our future EV plans, Formula E was the obvious choice and we believe that the benefits are enormous. The FIA and the promoter have exciting plans for the future of the championship and we are proud to be one of the first vehicle manufacturers to commit to the series with our own team," said an excited Barclay.

"We have a lot of work to do ahead of the first race but it is a challenge we relish. We hope that we can welcome a new generation of fans to Jaguar through this exciting programme," he added.-TradeArabia News Service