Ian Callum has reimagined the Jaguar XJ220, and we're a little bit in love
A design legend takes on one of Britain's greatest supercars
One of Britain's greatest car designers has turned his eye to one of Britain's greatest supercars. Ian Callum's studio, Callum Design, has reimagined the mighty Jaguar XJ220, and on this early evidence it could be spectacular. Whether or not it ever turns a wheel, the images alone are enough to make any enthusiast go weak.
What Callum has changed
Rather than a slavish restoration, this is a bold reinterpretation. Callum Design has given the XJ220 sharper haunches and a more pronounced rear slope for a dramatically different, more modern silhouette, while carefully retaining the details that made the original so distinctive, including its egg-shaped side windows and the air ducts that run along its flanks. It is a delicate balance of honouring an icon and moving it on, which is exactly the sort of thing Callum does so well.
The man behind it
If anyone has earned the right to reshape a Jaguar, it is Ian Callum. He served as Jaguar's design director from 1999 to 2019, penning some of the brand's most beautiful modern cars, and his consultancy has since built a reputation for reimagining historic machines. Recent projects include a reworked Aston Martin Vanquish, a road-legal Jaguar C-X75 and even a Wood and Pickett Mini, so a fresh take on the XJ220 sits perfectly within his wheelhouse.
A word of caution: it is a study, not a product
Before anyone reaches for their chequebook, the important caveat: this is a design study, meant to showcase what Callum Design can do for well-funded clients, and the firm has stressed there are no concrete plans to build a road-going car. No technical details, power figures or pricing have been given. A fuller reveal is expected in the coming months, quite possibly around October to mark the 35th anniversary of the original XJ220's debut at the 1991 Tokyo motor show.
Remembering the original
It is worth remembering just how special the car being reimagined is. The XJ220 was, briefly, the fastest production car in the world, and rather than the V12 originally promised it used a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 producing around 542 hp, enough to crack 340 km/h. Loved and misunderstood in equal measure when new, it is now rightly regarded as a 1990s icon, which makes it fertile ground for a designer of Callum's calibre.
AutoNext Take
We will say it plainly: we would love this to become real. The XJ220 is one of the most charismatic supercars Britain has ever produced, and letting Ian Callum, a man who understands Jaguar design in his bones, modernise it is an intoxicating idea. The sensible part of us knows a design study rarely becomes a production car, and we should not get carried away. But if a wealthy patron reads this and fancies funding a run of reborn XJ220s, honestly, they would be doing the car world a favour. Fingers very firmly crossed.
Reborn icons are having a moment: see the Ferrari-based Maturo 308 Stradale restomod, Touring's Veloce12 Aperta take on the 550, and the DTM-inspired SGT Automobili 55-SGT.
