Award-winning times

MIKE Cross, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Engineer, has won Autocar’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Having joined Jaguar Cars in 1984, Cross became Chief Engineer across the two brands when they merged in 2008.

He has personally been responsible for developing the globally-acclaimed handling, comfort and precision of all Jaguar and Land Rover cars and given final sign-off on every one since.

Under Cross’s guidance, not only has the Land Rover brand retained its position as the ultimate off-road car; it has also grown enormously to take on new segments. He has played a part in the development and engineering of the Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Velar and plug-in hybrid models such as the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport P400e.

Mike said: “It’s always been a given that Land Rovers had to be good offroad, but what we have really focused on was making Land Rovers great to drive on-road, too.

“The Discovery 3 was the first Land Rover I worked on, and since then we’ve worked to make every other model in the range as comfortable, refined and capable”

Autocar’s Lifetime Achievement Award is the headline prize at the publication’s annual Autocar Awards, and it seems JLR were on a winning streak, with the new Range Rover Evoque awarded their coveted Innovation Award for its worldfirst Ground View technology. Clearsight Ground View uses three forward-facing cameras in the front grille and on the door mirrors and renders an unobstructed 180 degree view of the front of the vehicle onto the central touchscreen, helping the driver maintain visibility when negotiating extreme terrains as well as high city-centre kerbs and tight parking spots.