Home » Legendary Jaguar F-Type Designer Ian Callum Has Penned An Electric Off-Roader And It Looks Wicked

Legendary Jaguar F-Type Designer Ian Callum Has Penned An Electric Off-Roader And It Looks Wicked

Callum Skye Topshot
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Aside from a few shining beacons, the current state of electric performance cars is rather depressing if you’re into lightweight, fun little machines. Well, here’s an expensive potential anecdote. Famed Jaguar designer Ian Callum has his own company now, and is looking to produce a properly small, properly light electric off-roader called the Callum Skye. Consider our eyebrows raised.

If you don’t know who Ian Callum is, don’t worry. He oversaw design of some of the most beautiful cars of the past twenty years, primarily for Jaguar. We’re talking about the bewitching F-Type, the radically modern XF, the beguiling XK, and the astonishing Aston Martin Vanquish of the early aughts. These are cars so beautiful, Callum was appointed Commander of the British Empire for his work in car design.

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At the moment, the Callum Skye is just a rendering, so it has a little bit of vaporware about it. However, we’ll just have to see what happens. After all, if Faraday Future can deliver cars, who knows anymore? Regardless, British car magazine Autocar reports that “the first prototype of [the Skye] is expected to be running in the spring,” so we’ll just have to jot it down in the calendar and see what happens. If Callum and Co. pull it off, we could be looking at one seriously tantalizing EV, especially from an engineering standpoint.

So what makes the proposed bones of the Callum Skye so interesting? Its purported 42 kWh battery pack isn’t massive, its claimed four-second zero-to-62 mph time isn’t wildly fast, and an alleged range of 170 miles isn’t exactly far. Well, it all comes down to claimed weight. As it stands, the vast majority of EVs have been on the pies. Curb weights measured in pounds beginning with a four or five are the new normal. This thing? Its curb weight might begin with a two.

Callum Skye 1

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Annoyingly, the Callum Skye only has a targeted dry weight for now, which is a bit stupid because you don’t measure your own weight after draining all the blood out of your body. However, said targeted dry weight is quoted at a mere 2,535 pounds, and since electric vehicles don’t contain nearly as much fluid as a combustion-powered car, expect that figure to rise just slightly for curb weight. This should be a properly light EV if Callum pulls it off, and lightness is often the key to fun.

Callum Skye Profile

Of course, being an Ian Callum design, the Callum Skye looks fantastic. It’s like Mad Max graduated from ArtCenter and immediately bought a Toyota Sera. We’re talking an elegant canopy, transparent door inserts, wide fenders, and the kamm-iest of kammtails. There’s a delicate muscularity to this shape that feels absolutely cutting-edge. Perhaps that’s what it needs to sell at the purported price.

Callum Skye 2

Ah yep, here’s the theoretical rub: Autocar reports the Callum Skye will cost around £100,000. That’s Porsche 911 money, Chevrolet Corvette money, Lexus LC 500 money. You can buy an insane amount of car for that sort of money, so why hang about for one that’s theoretical at the moment? Well, the sort of person who’d buy one of these, if it reaches limited production, probably already has a few supercars. To them, a vehicle like this is an experience, something completely and totally different. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Spring to see what materializes.

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(Photo credits: Callum Design)

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Timbales
Timbales
10 months ago

The EV off-road vehicle: for when you care about the environment but want to crush it under your wheels at the same time.

FloridaNative
FloridaNative
10 months ago

Looks like a Pontiac Stinger. Which isn’t a bad thing.

Last edited 10 months ago by FloridaNative
Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
10 months ago

A 50kWh Model 3 battery weighs a little over 1000lb. A 42kWh battery should be north of 900lb.

Mr. Callum, good luck making a legal offroader that weighs 1600lb. That’s like a 1946 jeep.

Bjorn A. Payne Diaz
Bjorn A. Payne Diaz
10 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Carbon Fiber.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
10 months ago

If I had to guess, carbon fiber, aluminum, relatively small size, and lots of money will conspire to create something that is only moderately higher weight than his goal.

Bjorn A. Payne Diaz
Bjorn A. Payne Diaz
10 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Doing some eyeball math. About 6.5 of those wheels make the length of the vehicle So 130″ if those wheels are 20″. If they’re 18’s? Only 117″. The OG Mini Cooper was 120″ long.

Morgan van Humbeck
Morgan van Humbeck
10 months ago

No mention of the DB7, the single greatest shift in Aston Martin there has ever been

ElectricOffRoaders .com
ElectricOffRoaders .com
10 months ago

Big Ian Callum fan here. He nails his proportions just about every time. Wouldn’t be able to afford this, but obviously I like it in concept.

MikeInTheWoods
MikeInTheWoods
10 months ago

Someone should tell Callum they already built an electric version of a Meyers Manx.

ElectricOffRoaders .com
ElectricOffRoaders .com
10 months ago
Reply to  MikeInTheWoods

Sadly, it’s also too expensive. I’m dying for someone to bring an AFFORDABLE bare-bones, light-weight, compact, street-legal, EV commuter to market that can also handle light-duty off-road trips and chores.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
10 months ago

https://microlino-car.com/en/microlino?_gl=1*1s3jks5*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDI4OTEyMzAyLjE3MDA4NzA2NTI.*_ga_K90DJXD508*MTcwMDg3MDY1MS4xLjEuMTcwMDg3MDczNi4wLjAuMA..

Rafael
Rafael
10 months ago

Hey, nice Terry Pratchett reference on the header image, thanks!

I drive a boring SUV
I drive a boring SUV
10 months ago

It doesn’t look wicked, it looks like what the kid who copies the homework does, in this case, Mr. Callum re-heated the 1989 Pontiac Stinger Concept from Adrian’s piece on the Aztek.

Can’t wait to see it enter production as a 7-steater plug-in hybrid SUV with odd proportions and a name stolen from a legendary car.

Anders
Anders
10 months ago

I kinda wish a great car designer like Callum, when given free reigns, would create something more interesting, challenging and forward thinking. This looks nice, but who is it actually for and what will it be used for? Is this simply the car equivalent of a Pinarello Dogma? Yet another expensive high-end toy designed for middle-age men with too much money?

Last edited 10 months ago by Anders
Alan Christensen
Alan Christensen
10 months ago

To me it’s a lot like what the Isuzu VehiCross might look like if it had remained in production.

Marteau
Marteau
10 months ago

Definitely trying to sell something to stellantis.

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
10 months ago

I’d love to see an electric Ariel Nomad.

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