Designing a new-millennium Jag
AMELIA ISLAND, Florida — Given Jaguar’s history of radically sexy sports cars, you can imagine the challenge facing Jaguar design director Ian Callum when asked to design the brand’s first batteryelectric vehicle, the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace.
“Jaguars are about drama and exaggeration,” Callum said during an interview this spring at the Amelia Island Concours in Northern Florida. “The E-Type with the long bonnet, the SS-1 with the long bonnet and low roof, and the XJ’s low roof, long bonnet and big wheels.”
But the I-Pace is a batteryelectric vehicle, so there’s no need for a long bonnet. Nevertheless, sports-car design influenced its look.
“I remember when the Ferrari 250 LM came out. I remember thinking how dramatic to take what is a design language of the old Berlinettas and the 250 GTs, and moved the cabin forward. To me, it’s even more dramatic; it always amused me.”
The memory stayed with Callum as the I-Pace was being designed, who pushed the I-Pace’s visual weight forward.
“If you think of an F-Type, where all of the weight visually is thrown to the back of the car and the rear haunches, this is the opposite. It doesn’t matter which way, as long as it dramatically does something to make the car look like it’s moving.”
The end result is a striking proportion that’s not an SUV or crossover, but not a car either. Still, why produce a crossover rather than a sports car? The answer is simple.
“The F-Pace has been a huge success for us, the highest selling Jaguar ever,” Callum said. “It’s the road of least resistance in terms of marketing.”
Best of all, Callum bestowed the I-Pace with classic, flowing lines, rather than bizarre forms increasingly common in modern vehicle design.
“I think being different is easier than beautiful. We could’ve done a [BMW] i3, but we chose not to because I like beautiful things,” Callum said.
“There are a set of rules that we live by esthetically, and I think that holds us to what you see here.”