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May 24, 2019 09:16 AM

Jaguar will press on with I-Pace's design advantage, styling boss says

Nick Gibbs
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    Callum: "I don’t buy into the notion that electric cars have to look strange and funky, or different for the sake of it."

    Jaguar's early entry into electric vehicles with the I-Pace gave it an opportunity to create a stand-out design before EVs start to look very similar, the brand's design chief, Ian Callum, said.

    Jaguar will continue to press its design advantage by developing more electric cars, Callum told the Automotive News Europe Congress.

    "There is certainly an opportunity in the near-future and mid-future because ultimately electric cars will look very similar since their underpinnings are very similar," the executive said.

    Electric cars are liberated from the traditional format of an engine in the front, transmission in the middle and driveshaft at the rear. "You have to package the electric motor, invertor and the battery but they are joined by wires and not bits of metal so there are opportunities," Callum said.

    For example, the lack of an engine means the occupants can be moved further toward the front to give the car a more cab-forward look similar to midengined supercars.
    The differentiation that allows the I-Pace to stand out will not last long because designs inevitably will be dictated by the battery layout, Callum said. The I-Pace's so-called "skateboard" platform with the batteries packaged in a relatively thick floor required the wheels to be pushed to the edges of the car.

    In the future, EV wheelbases will get longer to accommodate more batteries. "We know that because we are doing more of them [EVs]," Callum said, without being specific.

    The thickness of the battery pack also partly dictated the I-Pace's body style. "We picked an SUV because we have 125mm to 130mm of battery," he said.

    Much of the freedom Callum had when designing the car was because neither the model or segment existed previously. "If this had existed I would have had the dimensions given to me," he said.

    Despite this freedom, the car still had to conform to Jaguar's values. "When you design a Jaguar the first function is performance and then beauty. I see beauty as a function," Callum said. "I don't buy into the notion that electric cars have to look strange and funky, or different for the sake of it. This car looks different for the right reasons -- because of the way it is designed."

    If the resulting car is too different, the car ends up frightening away customers. "Innovation should always leave 10 percent that people still recognize, and we did that with the I-Pace front end. Go 100 percent you'll lose people too quickly," Callum said. He praised Tesla for recognizing this with the Model S sedan.

    Jaguar has sold 5,862 units of the I-Pace this year according to company figures. The car went on sale in September last year, ahead of its rivals, the Audi e-tron and Mercedes-Benz EQC.

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