Remember, back in 2010, when you first laid your eyes on the beautiful Jaguar CX75 penned by Ian Callum? At that time it was just a concept and just like any other concept car, you carried a small glimmer of hope, that Jaguar would put this into production.
Well, they didn’t, much to the dismay of many automobile enthusiasts across the world. Despite announcing the CX75 would go into production in a year, Jaguar backtracked from their statement and The Jaguar CX75 never saw the assembly line, on the pretext of a bad global economy and the car was going to end up being way too expensive than Jaguar executives hoped for.
The Orginal Concept car is powered by an ingenious 1.6 four-cylinder hybrid motor that uses gas turbines to generate power for each of the four electric motors placed at the four wheels of the car, providing it with proper torque vectoring. Claimed Horsepower from combined ICE and electric motor was around 750 hp.
Here’s the ‘What If?’ of the last decade.
If Jaguar had soldiered on with production plans and the actual road-going would have been actualised – then considering the timeline, The Jaguar CX75 would have gone toe to toe with the infamous ‘Holy Trinity’ and the trinity would’ve been a quartet.
I’ve been on the internet and gone through a few social media posts and articles – and there’s a certain narrative going on – that CX75 could’ve revived Jaguar’s fortunes if it had gone into production. I must admit I am struggling to believe that, especially with Jaguar’s financial track record and the immense competition it would have had to face in the shape of the Holy Trinity – Those three cars (Mclaren p1, Ferrari La’ Ferrari and Porsche 918) redefined the term supercar to such an extent that an all-new category had to be termed just so to classify them – Hypercar.
Whether it would have given Jaguar a new lease of life as their poster boy or not – one thing is certain, that thing Ian Callum designed did sting a few hearts and they ached when they found out they may never get to see one in action. And just like that Jaguar CX75 would have gotten lost in the history books as a concept car that never really materialised.
But, the world films have a way of eternalising a character or an object that features in them and eches their names for years to come – and the relationship between automobile and filmography is not a new concept, for years cars that have starred in films have become larger than life perhaps even bigger than the star cast – certain fan favourites that comes to mind is Bond films and Aston Martin or in the recent past Fast and Furious franchise and the Toyota Supra.
So, in the year 2015, something very similar happened to the Jaguar CX75 it was featured in a James Bond movie – Spectre, albeit not as the protagonist’s choice of wheels but as a villain car – and this rejuvenated the adoration for the car again not just among the car enthusiast, but furthermore the general public were fascinated by the car in the film.
The car depicted in the film was prepared by Williams Advanced Engineering and it didn’t quite bolster the same 4-cylinder hybrid engine – but just as impressive a V8 engine.
The handful of stunt cars then went into the garages of collectors across the globe, who wanted to have a piece of a James Bond Movie prop – but they weren’t road-legal and couldn’t be enjoyed like a traditional Supercar.
Ian Callum’s C-X75
Ian Callum’s independent firm, Callum Designs – has taken the stunt car from the movie and reworked it to give it a new lease of life and made sure it’s road-legal this time.
Callum Designs’ involvement is not limited to turning a stunt car into a road-legal hypercar – they went a notch ahead, by redefining the overall exterior design, to make the body work more aero-efficient and of course more downforce – with subtle trick active aero – while keeping the low slung design and clean sweeping lines, that made it a fan favourite in the first place – one could argue this is how CX75 would’ve looked if it had hit the showroom floors a decade ago.
Something which the Designer Ian Callum has reiterated in the press release on their website – “C-X75 was ‘the one that got away’ – a car brimming with unfulfilled potential. We’ve combined the customer’s wishes with carefully engineered solutions to bring C-X75 to the thoroughly satisfying conclusion it always deserved.”
— Ian Callum, design director at CALLUM.
Under the hood resides a supercharged V8 from Jaguar exact performance figures haven’t been disclosed – but one could imagine it would do justice to match the stunning looks of the CX75.
The Interior has been completely revamped – and is quite beautiful – simple – elegant and modern – it features a billet machined steering wheel an analogue gauge cluster – and a sports seats leather seat. This is interior done right – with modern supercars bolstering a plethora of screens and Piano Black finishes or if it is a customer-commissioned spec, it would be something ghastly over the top shouty colours and materials.
To keep up with the modern supercar Callum Design has equipped The CX75 with modern amenities such as Apple Car Play, a digital rear-view mirror and a wireless charging pad.
At first I thought the car was insanely beautiful, and then I saw that instrument binnacle…. bro is an artist.
What a car!