► Callum Design Skye concept revealed
► It’s an electric all-terrain off-roader
► From deep within the brain of designer Ian Callum
Ian Callum and his team at Callum Design have created a new project: the Skye. As you can see from the pictures, the Skye is a radical-looking electric off-roader that Callum Design claims is meant to be ‘the world’s most beautiful, high-performance, multi-terrain vehicle.’
Callum Design?
In case you need your memory jogging, Callum Design is a design house headed up by influential British automotive designer, Ian Callum. Callum is most famous for designing cars like the Aston Martin Vanquish and plenty of models in Jaguar’s 21st century portfolio including the last XK, F-Type, and F-Pace and I-Pace among many others.
At Callum Design, he had another go at the Vanquish with the Vanquish 25 project that Callum Design kicked off with. Other projects include the radical-looking Nyobolt EV, as well as more off-the-wall ones like designing a cocktail mixed and a lounge chair. Yeah, we have no idea why either.
Right… so what’s this Skye really all about?
It’s a project that’s been entirely conceived within Callum Design as a high-performance, lightweight 2+2 off-roading… thing. The Skye promises ‘sports car performance’ and a low weight of 1150kg.
‘The exterior features a striking accent loop, intersected by a strong horizontal structure, flanked by organic forms front and rear,’ says Ian Callum. ‘At the heart of its story is its performance, style and capability, and a design integral to the engineering elements.’
To help with keeping it light, the Skye uses a carbonfibre space frame chassis and what looks to be as little bodywork as possible. As for its electric performance, there’s a 42kWh battery pack enough power for a four-second 0-60mph time. Callum Design claims a range of 170 miles.
In order to make it capable off road, the Skye also features all-wheel drive (meaning at least two motors will be deployed) and tough ‘trail-capable’ suspension and off-road tyres in certain specifications.
What about inside?
Callum Design has revealed new pictures of the inside too, and it sticks to the same funky minimalist style of the exterior. It’s certainly an interior befitting of a buggy but it’s designed to be premium too.
‘While the Callum Skye is capable and has a rugged exterior, the interior design is carefully and considerately refined to deliver a premium feel at every touchpoint,’ said Aleck Jones, the brand’s head of design. ‘Clever design solutions keep the interior simple but not simplistic, giving it a light, airy and refined feel while being within a compact cabin. Its success is down to its careful balance of opposing factors, baked into an exterior that people understand and enjoy.’
It’s also lightweight too, with the weight being a key target throughout the car. That meant that certain materials were chosen both for their luxurious feel, but also their performance on the scales:
‘We’ve had challenging weight targets to achieve, so we’ve utilised lightweight solutions where possible without compromising on the luxury feel,’said the brand’s colour, material and finish designer, Charlotte Jones. ‘Inside, the bright silver, premium metallic coated finish on the doors, dash and centre console matches the CALLUM level of quality in our recent Jaguar C-X75 project while saving essential weight.’
Is the Skye actually going to be real?
According to Callum Design, the Skye is planning to make production. The Skye is undergoing prototype testing as we speak, with the aim to release proper production-spec specifications for on and off-road versions early in 2024 ready for punters to order one.
Callum’s colour, material and finish designer, Charlotte Jones has also hinted at what some of the car could be made of: ‘Additionally, this prototype features body panels made from flax composite with bio-resin, which is being explored as a potential option for production models,’ she said.