Rumors were reported last week, but on Tuesday, December 15, the two sides made it official: Jaguar Land Rover is joining Formula E, the all-electric racing series, the Verge reports.
The automaker will field a team in time for the sport's third season, which starts in late 2016. This will be the first racing team run by Jaguar since it left Formula One after the 2004 season.
While Jaguar hasn't announced any concrete plans to develop a production electric car, the company isn't hiding its ambition with the news. In a video released by Jaguar, Nick Rogers, the company's group engineering director, says that "Jaguar Land Rover's made no secret about the fact that we will make electric vehicles." On the path to making one, he says in the accompanying press release, it makes sense to join a series focused on electric vehicles. "Formula E will give us a unique opportunity to further our development of electrification technologies," Rogers says.
