Steve Cropley
Two Geneva stars join fleet shortlist
MONDAY
How fantastic, on at least four levels, to see Jaguar’s I-pace take its narrow Car of the Year (COTY) win. The electric Jag is precisely the kind of rule-breaking car that ought to win things but often doesn’t. The accolade will help a deserving company in its hour of need. The victory shows again how comprehensively Jaguar beat rivals into this eye-catching sector. And the decision does great credit to a refreshed COTY jury formerly accused of serial old-fartdom because it loved Eurohatches too much.
The 2019 decision was rough on Alpine, which missed out by a whisker, but it also underscores how good that car is. Sports cars rarely come so close. And finally, as a former COTY fart myself, I’m gratified to see this senior award continue dominating others by electing the best jurors, and resisting inventing Car-with-shiniest-hubcaps gongs to please car makers. In short, this is the dream result.
TUESDAY AM
Made it into the Geneva show at 7.35am, avoiding the 7.30am hacks’ scrum. Experienced scrummers learn to hold back so as not to be harpooned on the flailing tripods of video crews. The morning’s press had been full of stories about a no-deal Brexit dissolving our motor industry so I wasn’t on top form. But I was soon encouraged by visits to Mclaren, Aston Martin, Ginetta, Bentley, Rolls-royce, David Brown and Morgan, all UK specialists for whom ‘crashing out’ is likely to be more annoyance than disaster. Main impression was that these players are at the very top of their games. They’re so creative, productive, competitive, far-sighted and efficient that the country must be proud of them. The happy question is how on earth they can maintain such standards.
TUESDAY PM
Chatting with Aston CEO Andy Palmer when he suddenly rose from his chair and suggested we walk to the Morgan stand. Arrived to hear that the Morgan family had sold a majority of its 110-yearold company to Italian-based Investindustrial, an Aston investor that recovered much of its original Aston stake in a recent flotation. Found it hard to feel entirely happy about a historic company being sold to financiers whose aim is surely to improve value rapidly to take the profit. But the joy on the faces of Morgan CEO Steve Morris and design boss Jon Wells was something to see. No one seems to mind that their fortunes now depend on the finer feelings of private equiteers, but I believe it’ll become important.
The decision does real credit to a refreshed COTY jury
WEDNESDAY
Usually sit on the plane back from Geneva trying to decide which of the cars I’ve just seen would most improve our home fleet. This year, I chose two: I’d enjoy seeing the Steering Committee move from her Fiat 500 Twinair to next year’s allelectric Honda e; and I’m encouraged to swap our Mazda MX-5 for one of the new 30th anniversary models, complete with urgent orange paint, Recaro seats and quick-spinning new engine. It could happen, too, except that, in my life, such plans are forever being overtaken by others.
FRIDAY
My Personal Impatience award for the Geneva whisper I’m keenest to see in three dimensions goes to the mysterious new Mclaren ‘ultra-gt’ created out of the success of the current 570GT, the Woking car I’d buy if I could. Any plan to launch something with greater Mclaren Gt-ness really rings my bell, especially since the price is said still to be in touch with existing 540-570 models. We’ll see it in months, they say.