As a youngster in the Scottish countryside, Ian Callum fell in love with Jaguar cars.
First there was the Mark II that debuted in 1959 and soon after the curvaceous E-Type. And he was smitten by the first Jaguar XJ he saw driven by his father's friends in the late '60s.
“I picked up my design theory from those cars,” says Callum, now in his 10th year as design director at Jaguar.
The 55-year-old stylist has come full circle in his decade at Jaguar, which now is owned by India's Tata Motors Ltd. He has supervised the restyling of the spiritual successors of all three vehicles -- and, although he is a fan of those long-ago cars, Callum has taken it upon himself to shift the grand British brand from its styling heritage.
His latest design may be his most important: the 2010 XJ sedan. It was unveiled this summer in London and is scheduled for U.S. sale early next year.
The previous XJ was criticized for having grown stodgy. It was the car Callum says he was most eager to redesign as “a deservingly more modern car.”