Jaguar believes modern car buyers are becoming "cylinder agnostic", and will be happy to snap up the S and SVR-branded range of performance EVs it has in the pipeline.

Ian Hoban, the chief engineer of the widely lauded I-Pace, a full-electric performance SUV unveiled last week in Los Angeles, says it is just the beginning of an EV revolution at Jaguar.

"We've been very clear that this has been a huge, huge learning experience for us, it's been about developing and refining our own capability - around the architecture, the batteries, the design of the motors, those sort of things - and clearly we have plans to take that to another level," Hoban said.

"Is there a potential for performance electric vehicles? Absolutely. I don't know what, I don't know when, but I think there's still a place for internal-combustion engines in the world, and it varies by market, and that's still big part of our portfolio as well.

"But part of being a forward-looking company is having these options that we can deploy as the world's tastes change."

Hoban, who no doubt does know exactly what Jaguar has coming, and when, believes that anyone who's driven a sporty EV - like the Tesla Model S he admits he's spent a lot of time in - will tell you that performance is no longer the exclusive domain of screaming V8s or massive V12s.

"When people talk about performance, what they're actually talking about is torque, and torque delivery, and the fact that you can deliver the torque, instantly, in an electric vehicle, particularly in the mid-range, I think most people would say that is what performance is about," Hoban explains.

"Having driven the prototypes of this car (the I-Pace), I guarantee people wont be disappointed.

"I think people are a lot more cylinder agnostic than they were.

"When I grew up it was all about V12s, and we talked about cylinders, but now people, particularly with hybridisation, are a lot more aware that actual cylinders and capacities aren't everything."

As far as the future of his brand is concerned, Hoban says the number of cylinders a car has, or what kind of batteries it uses, will not matter, "as long as it has the brand DNA of a Jaguar".

What that DNA strand may no longer contain, within a decade or two, is the sound of a screaming V8.

Jaguar has already confirmed that, by 2020, half of all Jaguar Land Rover models will have the option of electrification; either full EV, plug-in or mild hybrid.