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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 Land Rover names new manufacturing chief for EV transformation

LONDON — Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is replacing its director for manufacturing as it prepares its plants for an electrified future, the firm said on Thursday. JLR operates three factories in its home market but is building its first electric car, the I-PACE, in Austria. The Indian-owned automaker's Chief Executive Ralf Speth told Reuters earlier this year he is waiting for more information on trading conditions after Brexit before he decides whether to make electric cars in Britain. On Thursday, he said Executive Director for Manufacturing Wolfgang Stadler is retiring from the business, to be replaced by Director of Quality and Automotive Safety Grant McPherson starting July 1. "He will oversee the ongoing investment into our UK and global manufacturing, transforming our plants to enable Jaguar Land Rover's exciting electrified future," Speth said. Reporting by Costas PitasRelated Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2019 Jaguar I-Pace deep dive with designer Wayne Burgess

Evil Brits star in Jaguar's first-ever Super Bowl commercial

Chrysler's Imported from Detroit commercial from Super Bowl XLV is one of the most powerful car commercials in recent memory, and Jaguar is taking a similar approach - albeit with a more villainous spin - for its first-ever Super Bowl spot titled Rendezvous. While Chrysler and Eminem focused on hometown cheerleading, Jaguar is using its $8 million (the going rate for a 60-second commercial in this year's game) to play up the Hollywood tradition of typecasting a Brit as the bad guy.
In the spot highlighting the all-new F-Type Coupe, Jaguar looked to director Tom Hooper (the man behind movies like The King's Speech and 2012's Les Misérables), who filmed on location in London with British bad guy actors Mark Strong, Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston. As the commercial implies, Brits make perfect bad guys with their style, sound and power, which are all traits evident in the F-Type.
The commercial will air in the fourth quarter of this Sunday's game, but you can watch it now in the video posted below. Jaguar has also included a press release as well as a second behind-the-scenes video showing how the ad was made.