the db7 began life as a successor to the jaguar xjs envisioned by tom walkinshaw of twr. walkinshaw had been impressed by the xjs' potential after driving it in the european touring car championship in the late 1970s and early 1980s and wanted to re-body the car so it would have more modern styling. he initially wanted to engage peter stevens to design such a car but he refused due to his on going projects as the time. walkinshaw then engaged ian callum, who was new in the car design work at the time, to design the car.