Ian Callum's greatest car designs

"I came into this role with a mission to take Jaguar design back to where it deserved to be. It has taken 20 years, but I believe I have achieved what I set out to do." So says Ian Callum, who recently announced that he is stepping away from his role as Design Director for Jaguar to "explore other design projects."

We can't wait to see what Callum's up to next, but we also thought now would be a great time to take a look back at some of Callum's greatest designs.

Note that these vehicles are sorted from oldest to newest, not necessarily from best to worst or vice versa. With that out of the way, click on the image above to get started.

Ford produced the RS200 from 1984 through 1986, and it served as the road-going basis of the automaker's Group B rally racer.

Callum has referred to the RS200 as his first full car, having to redesign every bit of the machine to get it ready for the rigors of motorsport. Not a bad way to kick off a career, we'd say.

The second and final classic Ford we'll highlight is the Escort RS Cosworth. Callum worked with another famous designer, Peter Horbury, on the Cossie, which is famous for the oval-shaped vents in its hood and its massive rear wing.

Competition versions of the Escort RS Cosworth competed in Group A rally racing from 1993 through 1998.

Callum led the design of the Nissan R390 while working for Tom Walkinshaw Racing. They ran at Le Mans in 1997 and 1998 before changing regulations meant they no longer qualified for the GT class.

Only two road-legal R390s were produced by Nissan, and one of them is still owned by the automaker. With an official top speed of 220 mph, the race-spec R390 GT1 remains the fastest vehicle Nissan has ever made.

This is the car that finally replaced the stunning DB7 after its 10-year production run.

If you look at the history books, you'll see the name of Henrik Fisker attached to the Aston Martin DB9's design. In an interview with Car and Driver, however, Callum said he was responsible for "pretty much 100 percent" of the DB9's design.

"You only have to look at the DB9 to see who designed it — it’s a Vanquish with a dinner jacket on," said Callum. Who are we to argue?

Another Callum classic, the X351 generation of the Jaguar XJ sedan debuted as a 2010 model. Its radical new shape that built upon the preceding XF made it perfectly clear that the days of stuffy, backward-looking Jaguar were over. Although not universally loved, the importance of what it represented cannot be ignored. 

It's a pity that the Jaguar C-X75 never made it into production. The automaker had planned a small run of these coupes using a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but sadly that plan was canceled due to poor global economic conditions.

At least we can always throw a copy of Spectre in the old DVD player to see this beauty in action.

As Jaguar's first production electric vehicle, it stands to reason that the I-Pace would look and feel a lot different than anything else in the British automaker's lineup. As you can see, it definitely does that, and it looks great.

It has also been well received. The I-Pace didn't just win the 2019 World Car of the Year award. It also won World Green Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year.