DAVID PEEL

f a car designer’s inspiration needs to be matched by experience to get them to the top of the tree, it’s no wonder Peter Horbury holds the leading design job at China’s restless Geely Group, where both full-steam brand building (Lynk&co) and careful development of age-old marques (such as Lotus) share priority.

As Geely Auto’s executive vicepresident of design, Horbury’s task is to deploy both creativity and talent as a team leader to guide a rambling global car conglomerate encompassing everything from trucks to private cars, with EVS, sports cars and taxis sandwiched in between.

His renowned ability at handling these tasks – plus more than 40 years in other top design roles – has led Autocar’s judging panel to declare

Ihim the winner of a special Lifetime Achievement award, an accolade rarely given. Horbury says he has relished choosing a dozen cars to describe his life, not least because as a celebrated raconteur, he has plenty of life experiences to share…