It’s hard to overstate the amount of good that Ian Callum has brought to Jaguar. After helming the British automaker’s design efforts for the last two decades, Callum has announced that he’s passing the torch. He wants to try out new projects after achieving his goals at Jaguar.
Callum started his career at Ford. He then became the Chief Designer for TWR. It was there where Ian penned such iconic cars as the Nissan R390, Aston Martin DB7, and Aston Martin Vanquish. Eventually he moved on to Jaguar, and that’s where he was tasked with freshening up the brand. To breathe new life into Jaguar. And he did just that.
The first car that was truly a complete Callum design was the 2006 XK. But it was the 2008 XF that saw the automaker finding new customers at its dealers doorsteps. Callum continued on that success with the XJ, the F-Type, and the rest of the recent Jaguar designs, including the I-Pace.
Callum will remain at hand should Jaguar come a calling, as he’s retained the role of a consultant. But it will be interesting to see what else Callum can cook up in a new space.
He’s certainly one of the great automotive designers of our lifetime. I mean, he helped shape the Ford RS200 and is heavily responsibly for the DB9. He’s on my list of favorite automotive designers.
Who is on yours?
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