Jaguar C-X16 designer: Q and A
Monday 19 September 2011
Few would dispute the first two-seater Jaguar sports car since the E-type – the Jaguar C-X16 – was the star of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.
The C-X16, is the latest model from the pen of Jaguar Director of Design Ian Callum, who with the XK, XF and XJ already to his name, has been instrumental to a renaissance for the Tata-owned iconic British brand.
Web Editor Adrian Higgins caught up with Ian at Frankfurt to shed a little light on the design star’s precocious past, his thoughts on E-type comparisons and what Jaguar fans have to look forward to next.
What’s your first car memory?
I was three or four and was already one of those kids who knew every car, its full name. And I knew I wanted to design cars. I grew up in a small town and on a sunny day I saw a silver Porsche 356 – it stood out. When I was 14 I wrote to Bill Haynes (legendary Jaguar boss) and sent him some of my designs and got a letter back saying I would need to become a commercial artist. I was very impressed because it takes effort to write back. I try to do the same thing when people write to me. I still have my own designs from that time and they’re all Jags! I now use them to gauge where the people who send me designs are in terms of their development. It’s a bizarre notion that I’ve ended up in this job. It’s almost like it was destiny.
What was your first car?
My father took me to the local aerodrome where I learned to drive in his 1961 Vauxhall Victor. I sat my test in a Vauxhall Viva, and failed, but eventually I passed and started driving a Ford Zephyr Mk VI which I wrote off driving into a bus in Coventry. But it wasn’t my fault it was the bus! My first car was a Volvo P544.
How do you relax away from work?
I sketch a lot so it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday. I like listening to music, 70s Bowie, Kings of Leon and I’m starting to listen to more classical music.
How do you feel about comparisons between the C-X16 and the E-type?
For me the reference has to happen naturally. It wasn’t there for me personally. I know the E-type inside out. I know all its flaws. It was a car of the early 60s and this is a car for the 21st century and they are two very different animals. We live in a world of total regulation and control and you have to factor that into design now. You could not create the E-type for today and what you could create I promise you, you wouldn’t like. I would rather design from first principles and that’s what we’ve done. If a Martian arrived and you showed them an E-type and the C-X16 they would pick the C-X16 because it’s a more modern car.
What reaction have you had to the C-X16?
I’ve had a phenomenal reaction, beyond my expectations. I adore the car and for me it’s the best piece of work I’ve been involved with. The reaction from other people has been to that equivalent, extremely positive. It’s almost like the world’s breathed a sigh of relief, especially afficianoados and Jaguar fans, and so have I. It’s been in the shadows of my mind for a long time. The plans took weeks and weeks of working , it was very intense, I think the most intense piece of work has to take place for it to look like it happened naturally.