2007 Jaguar Xk 2dr Convertible on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ex-Jaguar design boss Ian Callum starts his own design firm

A month ago, Ian Callum stepped down from his position as Jaguar's director of design. In a 20-year career with the English sports car maker, Callum's pen has traced the lines of everything from the original XK, the XJ, the F-Type, I-Pace, and more. Before that, he made use of employ at Aston Martin by contributing to the original DB7, the DB9, the previous Vantage, and the first Vanquish. After a career in service to OEMs that's been brilliant enough to earn him a CBE, for Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Callum has stepped up to take the reins at his eponymous design firm, called "Callum." Established with four fellow ex-Jaguar executives, Callum will design and engineer bespoke and limited-edition creations in the worlds of art, audio, automotive, fashion, lifestyle, and motorsports. The other trio of founding members are program director David Fairborn, engineering director Adam Donfrancesco, and commercial director Tom Bird. Fairbarn was the head of bespoke and special commissions at Jaguar Land Rover, where he helped bring the Lightweight E-Type to life. Donfrancesco left his role as engineering manager for JLR 's bespoke and special commissions; before that, he developed road and race cars like the Aston Martin GT8 and GT12. Bird, after stints at PWC and Barclays, had been commercial manager at JLR, where he shepherded the C-X75 concept into the James Bond movie Spectre. Callum said of the venture, "I wanted to get back to the essence of creativity; the challenge of producing something wonderful and personal. To design the alternative has always been my mantra, but always the beautiful alternative and something to enjoy." The man's still contracted to Jaguar as a brand ambassador, but at 64 years old, he feels "I've got maybe 15 years of design aptitude left, and I want to make the most of it." With 18 employees and based in a 20,000-square-foot facility in Warwick, the firm is ready right now with the engineering and manufacturing machinery to create products in-house. Even with the company's wide remit, we expect to see Callum take a stand in the automotive space. He admitted that he'd "like to take some of the cars I've designed and maybe redo them a little bit," but the team will always consider the entire vehicle, looking to upgrade dynamics and handling, too. We're told the first project will be announced soon.

Jaguar names its 3 Series-fighter XE, packs it with Ingenium engines

Jaguar is committed to emerging from the fringes of the luxury car market and into the mainstream. Just take a look at where it was a couple of decades ago and where it is now: In the 1980s, it had essentially two product lines, the XJ sedan and XJ-S coupe/convertible), and now it's got the XK coupe and convertible, the XJ sedan, the XF sedan and wagon and the F-Type coupe and roadster. But it's not about to stop there.
Coventry knows that if it's going to take on the German and Japanese heavyweights, it's going to need a compact sports sedan, and it's not about to repeat the mistake that was the X-Type. To that end, it's long been rumored to be developing a rival to the likes of the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class - it just hasn't given us much to go on. But that changes right here and now.
At the Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar has confirmed the imminent arrival of its new sports sedan, and along with the teaser image above, has given us some juicy details. For one, it'll be called the XE - fitting nicely alongside its big brothers the XF and XJ in Jaguar's growing sedan lineup. For another, it'll hit markets overseas in 2015 and arrive here in the United States in 2016.

Dick Van Dyke escapes his flaming Jaguar on the 101

Actor Dick Van Dyke was caught in a dangerous situation on a Los Angeles highway (who are we kidding, every situation on an LA highway is dangerous), when his Jaguar XJ spontaneously caught fire. The 87-year-old actor/comedian pulled to the side and attempted to call emergency services when another motorist pulled him from the car. There seems to be some confusion as to whether Van Dyke was passed out or merely calling emergency services.
According to the photos and video from NBC and The Today Show, the car was thoroughly cooked in the blaze and is now a total loss. After the incident, Van Dyke's wife, Arlene, posted that the actor was "fine," sharing a Vine video of the star, the car, and a few CHP troopers that were on hand. Later in the day, Van Dyke tweeted a photo of his toasted sedan, saying, "Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!"
You can view the Today show segment on the incident as well as Arlene Van Dyke's Vine video, below.