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Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover plans to deliver an electric sport-utility vehicle in 2018, taking a shot at Tesla Motors Inc.'s Model X and other automotive rivals.

Jaguar Land Rover on Monday unveiled its Jaguar I-Pace SUV concept ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show that begins this week. Its electric SUV will be first of several such vehicles planned by the British brand owned by India's Tata Motors Ltd.

Other luxury car makers are close behind. Audi AG plans to market an electric SUV in 2018, it has said. Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz is gearing up to show an electric, midsize SUV in 2019, and BMW AG aims to offer a battery-powered X3 SUV in 2020. They are moving in part in response to tougher emissions standards in the U.S. and Europe.

Jaguar Land Rover is on the trail of Tesla's Model X, which went on sale last year and is part of Chief Executive Elon Musk's plan to boost the Palo Alto, Calif., company's electric-vehicle production to 500,000 vehicles in 2018, from about 50,000 in 2015.

The number of all-electric models available in the U.S. is expected to triple to 19 by 2020, according to credit-rating firm Moody's Investors Service. Sales of small electric sedans, such as Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf and BMW's i3, have been disappointing so far.

Overall sales of high-end SUVs have been bright spot in the U.S. auto industry, garnering a 52% share of the overall U.S. luxury car market through October this year, up from 40% of sales in 2013, according to data provider LMC Automotive. Auto makers are eager to sell SUVs because they command higher prices than smaller cars, and they're increasingly popular with luxury car buyers. Jaguar didn't disclose a price for the I-Pace.

"We don't see the trend toward SUVs going away anytime soon," said Jeff Schuster, an analyst at LMC Automotive, in an interview.

Visitors to the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens to the public on Friday, will find several new electric offerings. General Motors Co. is soon to bring its all-electric Chevrolet Bolt to buyers in coming weeks, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is rolling out a plug-in hybrid version of its Pacifica minivan.

"Historically, the notion has been that you need to show people that you're driving an electric car," said Joe Eberhardt, Jaguar Land Rover's U.S. chief. "That doesn't mean it has to be small and it has to be quirky looking. What I think we're trying to prove here is that you can have a great-looking…SUV that's all-electric."

The I-Pace reflects the emphasis on size and style in an all-electric model. It will have an 90-kilowatt-hour battery designed to give the vehicle a range of 220 miles on a charge, the company said.

Jaguar Land Rover's bet on an electric SUV marks a remarkable turn following Tata's $2.5 billion acquisition in 2008 of the brands from Ford Motor Co., which was shedding assets to avoid bankruptcy. That year, the British division delivered almost 45,000 vehicles in the U.S., down from a record of 102,000 in 2002, according to market researcher Autodata Corp.Jaguar Land Rover under Tata Motors has focused on its core products, including the Land Rover Discovery Spot SUV and the Jaguar XF sedan. Its U.S. sales are up 23% this year through October, to 83,391 vehicles. The market as a whole, meanwhile, has remained flat.

Jaguar's sales growth likely will slow in 2017, Mr. Eberhardt acknowledged. But he is optimistic demand will continue to expand in the U.S. helped by the XE sedan and F-Pace SUV, which were introduced midyear, and updates next year of Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. "We are in the middle of a dramatic turnaround," he said.

Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 15, 2016 16:05 ET (21:05 GMT)

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