The Callum Skye is a futuristic EV that costs the same as a Porsche 911
Former Jaguar and Aston Martin designer Ian Callum has put the finishing touches to his latest project, which takes the form of an electric off-roader that could easily sit in the latest sci-fi blockbuster.
The powerful, fully electric multi-terrain machine, called Skye, is the first car to be designed, developed and produced entirely in-house by the Callum Designs team. Despite still being in the early prototyping stages, the company has said that order books are now open, with prices expected to start at £80,000 (approximately $100,000 / $120,000) and rise to £110,000 (approximately $140,000 / AU$210,000) for the more lavishly appointed models.
The Skye features a 42 kWh battery pack that’s neatly housed within the 4-metre frame, with overall dimensions that put it on par with the likes of the current Renault Clio and other compact hatchbacks like the Renault 5 E-Tech Electric.
The engineering team at Callum Designs claim they are aiming for a total weight of just 1,150kg, allowing the four-wheel drive off-roader to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in under four seconds.
“Electric vehicles lend themselves to different terrains, because of the amount of control we can have over the torque curve and the traction at each wheel,” said Ian Callum at the launch of his EV wall charger collaboration with Britain’s Andersen EV.
“We didn’t want to make a sports car because it was too obvious,” he added. “We wanted to do something that was unusual. I like the idea of doing something that is difficult to define,” he said.
Much of the weight savings comes from the stripped-down interior, which features a 2+2 seating configuration and a pillar-like center console bridge with tactile, rotatable touchscreen buttons that provide easy control of HVAC and other key functions. A central touchscreen offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality.
The rear seat can be removed completely to expand the cargo space, while a hole in the rear is accessed via a hinged tailgate and is large enough to store a few weekend bags or some smaller sports equipment.
“The biggest market for this will probably not be Great Britain, but for example areas with a lot of deserts. I also see California as a perfect place for this car,” Callum told us.
As for electric range, the official press release mentions 270 kilometers, but Callum says he would like to reach the 200 kilometer mark, which he believes is enough to explore the dunes and wilderness without having to worry about sufficient battery charge. At home.
The Callum Skye will begin real-world testing and shake-downs of prototypes later this year, with the designer claiming we should have “two or three of them around” next year.
Low volume, high price
Ian Callum is the first to admit that Skye will be a “low volume” model, built to order by his own team of engineers. With that in mind, it’s not designed to provide a practical solution for the daily driver, but instead to add a little fun to the car collections of wealthy owners.
The Meyers Manx beach buggy was perhaps one of the first to offer a similar go-anywhere spirit in the early 1960s, when Californian engineer Bruce Meyers rose to fame by chopping up a VW Beetle. Volkswagen itself even teased its idea of a modern Manx with its ID in 2019. Buggy.
That concept for the Geneva Motor Show was produced to highlight the flexibility of VW’s EV-specific MEB architecture and never went into production, much to the dismay of some adoring fans.
But perhaps Skye can pick up where VW’s concept left off, offering a simple but luxuriously finished interior that’s paired with some serious off-road options for weekend thrills. Just don’t expect this to be the cheap and cheerful off-road alternative that Bruce Meyers had in mind.