HAL 9000
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Times are not good at Jaguar. Sales are down. China is not the market that the bosses at Tata thought it would be, and the brand’s star designer is out after 20 years.
But there is hope, and it comes from Italy.
The past few decades have been easy for Jaguar when it comes to design. When the brand wanted a new car, someone in management probably walked over to Ian Callum, the brand’s head of design, and said “Ian, we want a new car.”
The result of those simple conversations weren’t just new cars, they were icons.
Callum’s XK, XJ, and F-Type totally redefined what a production Jaguar could look like and launched a new era for the brand.
Still, between the gems, Callum’s later tenure at Jaguar was marred by a pivot to crossovers like the F-Pace and E-Pace. These designs took the details Callum had honed for sedans and sports cars and applied them to the models the executives thought could bring Jaguar sales to the next level.
The result was not quite the success that the bosses at Tata were expecting, and so I think it’s time for a new approach, even though it ultimately is rooted in something Jaguar has done for decades.
They should find someone else to design the cars. No not the insides, the outsides.
Back in the day, Jaguar would flirt with the big design houses in Italy. The cars produced are some of my favourite one-offs and concepts.
Though none of the designs they supplied for the English firm made it to series production, the results of these flirtations by and large remain incredible examples of Anglo-Italian cooperation.
Let’s take a look at a few of these cars.
When we’re done, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that Jaguar ought to take a page from the brand’s own history and commission some more cars from Pininfarina, Zagato, Bertone and the rest.
Read the full Jalopnik article with additional pics at the link below:
jalopnik.com
But there is hope, and it comes from Italy.
The past few decades have been easy for Jaguar when it comes to design. When the brand wanted a new car, someone in management probably walked over to Ian Callum, the brand’s head of design, and said “Ian, we want a new car.”
The result of those simple conversations weren’t just new cars, they were icons.
Callum’s XK, XJ, and F-Type totally redefined what a production Jaguar could look like and launched a new era for the brand.
Still, between the gems, Callum’s later tenure at Jaguar was marred by a pivot to crossovers like the F-Pace and E-Pace. These designs took the details Callum had honed for sedans and sports cars and applied them to the models the executives thought could bring Jaguar sales to the next level.
The result was not quite the success that the bosses at Tata were expecting, and so I think it’s time for a new approach, even though it ultimately is rooted in something Jaguar has done for decades.
They should find someone else to design the cars. No not the insides, the outsides.
Back in the day, Jaguar would flirt with the big design houses in Italy. The cars produced are some of my favourite one-offs and concepts.
Though none of the designs they supplied for the English firm made it to series production, the results of these flirtations by and large remain incredible examples of Anglo-Italian cooperation.
Let’s take a look at a few of these cars.
When we’re done, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that Jaguar ought to take a page from the brand’s own history and commission some more cars from Pininfarina, Zagato, Bertone and the rest.
Read the full Jalopnik article with additional pics at the link below:
Jaguar Could Use Some Italian Help - Jalopnik
Times are not good at Jaguar. Sales are down. China is not the market that the bosses at Tata thought it would be, and the brand’s star designer is out after 20 years. But there is hope, and it comes from Italy.
jalopnik.com
