New research has found that more than a fifth (22 percent) of UK motorists are currently ignoring a warning light on their car’s dashboard.
According to estimates by Halfords, this means a staggering 117 million lights are illuminated on vehicles across the country right now.
Almost a third (30 percent) of drivers admit to simply overlooking warning lights. Less than half of drivers are confident of knowing what they mean.
This is despite 18 percent of those surveyed saying they suffered a breakdown by failing to pay attention to an illuminated dashboard light.
No paradise by this dashboard light
Excuses for leaving warning lights lit included drivers not having the time to rectify them. Not believing them to be safety-critical was another key reason.
However, brake system problems accounted for 18 percent of warning lights left on, with 16 percent attributed to airbag faults.
MOT failures or fixed-penalty fines can result from ignoring certain lights.
To help highlight the scale of the problem, Halfords has released a limited-edition Christmas jumper for a special auction.
An illuminating opportunity
Decorated with illuminated warning lights, bids can be placed for the bespoke jumpers until 10 December. All proceeds will be donated to the IAM RoadSmart road safety charity.
Helpfully, each jumper comes with a Halfords guide to explain exactly what every warning light means.
Following the launch of the new jumpers, Tony Greenidge, CEO of IAM RoadSmart, said: “Dashboard warning lights should never be ignored. Not only will they lead to an MOT fail, but they are almost always a pre-warning that something is about to stop working and that you could suddenly be stranded in a very dangerous place.
“The last thing anyone wants over the festive period is a totally avoidable breakdown, so get everything checked before that big trip and your car will be one less thing to stress about during the holidays”
Nissan is to double the size of the solar energy farm at its huge Sunderland factory – and, once complete, it will generate 20 percent of the plant’s needs.
This will be enough to build everyNissan Leafelectric car per year using fully renewable energy.
Pre-pandemic, around 43,000 Leaf EVs were made at Sunderland.
Work on the giant 20MW installation is already underway and it is expected to be complete by May 2022.
It will complement Nissan’s existing solar and wind farms.
“We have been using renewable sources on-site for more than 15 years,” said Nissan Sunderland manufacturing VP Alan Johnson.
“The expansion of our solar farm is an integral part of the Nissan EV36Zero project and the company’s journey to carbon neutrality.”
Sunderland goes green
The Sunderland project is the first of 10 planned by the Japanese giant – to which an initial £1bn has been committed by Nissan, its partners, and Sunderland City Council.
The Nissan EV36Zero project is the firm’s ambition to build a “flagship EV hub creating a world-first EV manufacturing ecosystem”. It will be centred around the Sunderland, UK factory.
The project will bring together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production; it will, says the firm, “set a blueprint for the future of the automotive industry”.
It has been praised by UK PM Boris Johnson, who called it “a major vote of confidence in the UK and our highly-skilled workers in the North East.
“Commitments like these exemplify our ability to create hundreds of green jobs and boost British industry, whist also allowing people to travel in an affordable and sustainable way so we can eliminate our contributions to climate change.”
Face mask rules have returned and they are now mandatory again in shops and on public transport as the government responds to the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
Experts agree that face coverings can significantly help reduce the spread of coronavirus there are plenty around that feature links to motorsport and automotive culture.
We have profiled the top motorsport-branded and inspired masks on offer in 2021, along with the teams still keeping us waiting.
McLaren Official Team U-Mask – £35
By far one of the fanciest and most advanced offerings, McLaren pulled out all the stops for this face mask.
It features a replaceable biotech filter element, said to deliver protection equivalent to an FFP3 mask. The filters last for up to 200 hours, with replacements available to order.
This is the same mask worn by Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo during 2021. McLaren is now offering the U-Mask in both orange and dark grey.
McLaren Gulf Team U-Mask – £35
For this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, McLaren used a one-off livery using classic Gulf Oil colours. It seemed to work, propelling Lando Norris to another podium finish.
As part of the Monaco makeover, the team used special Gulf-branded face masks. These are also available to buy from the McLaren store.
Using the same U-Mask design, it has all the benefits of the regular version.
Mercedes-AMG Team Face Mask – £35
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team may have dominated on track in 2020, but it took them a long time to get up to speed with offering a face covering.
Made from 100% polyester with a water-repellent finish, the mask can be washed up to 30 times.
Kimi by West Coast Choppers Face Mask – €9.99
Somewhat predictably, Kimi Räikkönen prefers to do his own thing when it comes to wearing a face mask. Instead of the Alfa Romeo version, he wears this special covering from his collection made with West Coast Choppers.
Kimi met Jesse James, the famous founder of the West Coast Chopper brand after winning the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix. This led to a collaboration to produce a wide range of custom motorbike-inspired merchandise, featuring the Finnish driver’s name.
Made with a pocket to house a replaceable filter, this is the mask Kimi can be seen wearing on race weekends.
Alpine F1 Team – £n/a
A change of name for 2021 saw Renault become the new Alpine F1 Team. Promoting the sporty sub-brand from the Renault family makes sense, with Alpine having enjoyed success in endurance racing.
The return of Fernando Alonso is the other major news for 2021, partnering Esteban Ocon.
Alpine does not yet have a branded face mask available from its online store. However, you can order an Alpine bucket hat instead.
Red Bull Racing – £n/a
Red Bull Racing are renowned for producing high-quality team merchandise, but a branded face mask is still not one of the options on sale.
There is plenty of replica teamwear, including a Red Bull Racing team mug, on offer though
AlphaTauri – £n/a
Just like the senior Red Bull Racing team, AlphaTauri does not yet stock an official face mask offering.
As a clothing brand, there are numerous neat merchandise options, should you want to support Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda during 2021
Scuderia Ferrari – £n/a
The time Michael Schumacher spent at Ferrari saw the famed Italian brand launch a huge array of merchandise. Today, the range is still extensive, but Ferrari face masks have not made it into the online shop.
As an alternative, you can purchase the rear spoiler taken from Ruben Barrichello’s F2004 F1 car. Yours for just £15,000. No word on how well it prevents the spread of viruses though.
Williams Racing Face Covering – £n/a
In the spirit of motorsport evolution, the mask previously offered by Williams Racing is now into a second generation.
The ‘new and improved’ model is said to offer better quality construction, along with an enhanced fit.
It was priced at just £3.00, representing a huge bargain compared to other offerings here… is this why it is currently no longer listed in the team’s online store?
U-Mask Model 2.2 – £36
Although many teams might not be offering official face masks, at the track many of them are using versions of the U-Mask.
Now upgraded to 2.2 specification, it uses a removable and replaceable filter to offer protection.
Formula 1 Face Covering – £10.50
If you cannot bring yourself to pick a team to support, why not opt for the official Formula 1 face covering instead.
Branded with the F1 logo, it comes in a pack of three
Kwik Fit BTCC Face Mask – £6
Formula 1 is not your style? Keep things closer to home with the official face mask of the British Touring Car Championship.
With a two-ply construction, it is said to be both breathable and antibacterial.
Ford Performance Camo Mask – £9.11
Ford has expanded its lifestyle collection to include a trio of face mask coverings. There is a classic blue one, and a neat Mustang-badged version. However, we really like this mask finished in the Ford Performance camouflage design.
Should you really want to coordinate, Ford offers other accessories like a beanie hat, rucksack, and mug in the same design.
This mask should be washable up to 50 times.
M-Sport Flex Face Mask – £18 for two
Not only is this face mask usable for protecting against viruses, M-Sport also points out that it is great for spectating on dusty rally stages, too!
The Cumbria-based motorsport outfit has taken no shortcuts with this mask, which is supplied by Treehouse Health. It is made with HeiQ Viroblock technology, which is said to kill viruses within minutes.
Should you really like the design, and the tech, discounts are available for bulk orders.
Blipshift Pink Pig Mask – $16
Dive deeper into the internet and there are numerous face masks with unofficial brand logos and names on them. However, there are also plenty of impressive coverings that have been inspired by motorsport legends.
This particular face mask, sold by American enthusiast site Blipshift, takes inspiration from the infamous Porsche 917/20 ‘Pink Pig’ racing car.
It is a rather niche reference, so be prepared for questions should you wear it to the supermarket.
The Art of Car 1965 Shelby Daytona GT – $17.99
Another American website, The Art of Car, has a host of face masks that pay homage to road and racing classics.
Even offered in youth sizes, we are quite taken with the Shelby Daytona GT design. It comes with two-layer polyester construction, and can be washed and reused.
Mopar Hemi Face Mask – $15.95
The 426-cubic inch Hemi V8 engine is an American icon, fitted to some of the most legendary muscle cars during the 1970s.
Along with wearing the Hemi logo, this face mask features an activated carbon filter. These filters can be removed and replaced, with the mask supplied with two of them.
Martini Face Mask – $16
California-based Striipe Design has taken on a number of classic motorsport liveries and designs to produce some impressive face masks.
Inspired by, arguably, one of the best racing sponsorship efforts, this mask pays tribute to the Porsches, Lancias, and others that raced with Martini branding.
Volkswagen fans may also be interested in a version inspired by the Interlagos check seat trim found inside many GTI models.
Redbubble Monaco Mask – £13.79
Redbubble offers an online marketplace for independent artists to sell custom-designed items. These range from clothing to mobile phone cases, and also now face masks.
This includes a gigantic choice of two-layer and three-layer face coverings, inspired by motorsport teams and star drivers. However, it should be remembered that many of the products may not be officially endorsed or licensed.
How to choose an effective face mask
The huge growth in the number of face masks available can mean a wide variety in their quality and effectiveness. Such choice makes it important to choose a face mask that suits your level of protection.
Expert research has found that masks with a greater number of layers offer better filtration from particles. More layers have also been found to affect breathability though, which can lead to condensation inside the face mask.
The majority of face masks are designed to prevent the spread of larger droplets, rather than delivering medical-grade protection.
Options like the U-Mask include a removable and replaceable filter element, offering FFP3-level protection for particles.
A further fall in wholesale costs for fuel means retailers must cut petrol and diesel prices this week or face losing ‘all credibility’ with motorists.
The warning from the RAC comes as the motoring organisation reveals the average retailer margin for petrol is 19p a litre, with a 15p margin on diesel.
This means unleaded is currently 12p a litre too expensive, while diesel is overpriced by 10p a litre.
“Ten days ago, we highlighted that petrol was 6p too expensive due to a fall in the wholesale price,” said RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams.
“Sadly, the biggest retailers, who lead the market, have stood strong and taken advantage of their customers by collecting bigger profits on every litre than they traditionally do.”
Omicron sees oil prices fall
The discovery of the Omicron Covid variant saw oil prices fall by $10 a barrel, making wholesale fuel prices even cheaper.
Mr. Williams called the 19p a litre margin “shocking when you consider their average margin pre-Covid was 6p”.
Fuel retailers will resent the RAC’s call, said Mr Williams, but if they don’t cut prices, “we feel they will lose credibility with drivers – although it’s very difficult for motorists to vote with their feet because they have nowhere else to go”.
If cuts don’t materialise this week, added the RAC, the government should step in and scrutinise the sector “as there’s no public body monitoring fuel prices to see if they’re fair.
“It seems as though retailers think they can get away with charging more for fuel because of the public’s general acceptance of rising energy prices”.
Retailers, adds Mr Williams, are very quick to raise prices when wholesale prices go up, which is in contrast to what happens when they fall – the worst ‘rocket and feather’ behaviour.
The Renault 4L is a French icon, and had one of the longest production runs of any car in the world.
Made between 1961 and 1992, more than eight million examples were sold in more than 100 countries.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the classic 4L, Renault has helped build a concept version that can actually fly…
Swapping wheels for propellers
Built in collaboration with radical retail brand TheArsenale, the AIR4 is said to be a ‘modern reinterpretation’ of the original Renault 4.
The bodywork of the concept is made entirely from carbon fibre. Access to the cabin is through the body shell hinging open, with a simple cockpit and storage space inside.
Four twin-blade propellers are used for propulsion, with lithium-ion battery packs providing the power. Weighing just 380kg, the AIR4 can reach an altitude of 700 metres. During level flight, it can achieve nearly 60mph.
An eternal cultural icon
Like the original, the AIR4 has been entirely designed and produced in France. For Patrice Meignan, CEO and Founder of TheArsenale, the AIR4 has been a passion project.
“I have dedicated my life to the passion for mobility and I continually explore all aspects of the moving world,” says Meignan.
He added: “After 25 years of forward-looking research, we believe that the icons of car culture are eternal, whether on earth or in the air. For 60 years, the Renault 4 has been driven by ordinary people who make it extraordinary. It is a car that symbolises adventure: simple, practical, useful and as modern as it is retro.”
The AIR4 is set to go on display in Renault’s flagship Paris store until the end of the year. It will then travel to Miami, New York, and finally Macau.
Life is full of disappointments. Like discovering an absence of Creme Egg Twisted sweets in a box of Heroes. Or arriving at a pub with locked doors after a long walk. Or realising that there’s little chance of buying a Copen GR Sport.
In Japan, Toyota Gazoo Racing – the in-house tuning company that brought you the GR Yaris, GR Supra and Yaris GRMN – has turned its attention to the tiny Daihatsu Copen.
The official description is wonderfully Japanese: “A new lightweight feel sports car combining the joy of the open air with the Toyota Gazoo Racing delight of handling at will.“ In other words, Gazoo Racing’s wizards have focused on body rigidity and suspension tuning by adding a front brace, changing the shape of the centre brace and tweaking the spring rate.
Further upgrades include uprated electric power steering, aerodynamic tweaks, BBS alloys and Recaro seats. Basically, the kind of things you’d demand from a lightweight sports car. The intercooled, turbocharged 660cc engine is unchanged, and you have a choice of a five-speed manual gearbox or seven-speed CVT with paddle-shifters.
Sounds perfect, especially when you consider that it costs the equivalent of £16,500 – about the same as a basic Ford Fiesta. At least, it would be perfect if we could buy one.
‘Handling at will’
But you can’t, because the Copen GR Sport is reserved for the Japanese domestic market. Boo, hiss, etc. No “handling at will” for you, Minasama. Still, at least we’ve got a plentiful supply of affordable, lightweight sports cars to choose from. Only we haven’t. Not today.
Fiat’s Mazda MX-5-based 124 Spider has bitten the dust, leaving the Mazda as the sole flag-bearer for affordable roofless fun. These days you need to keep your top on to enjoy maximum thrills, although the Alpine A110 – the current king of the lightweights – costs upwards of £48,000.
Even the Lotus Elise – the former benchmark for cheap(ish) thrills – will set you back at least £45,000 in run-out Final Edition guise. A lightweight gem for a heavyweight price.
Cast your mind back to the turn of the century. You were spoilt for choice: Alfa Romeo Spider, BMW Z3, Caterham 21, Fiat Barchetta, Honda S2000, Lotus Elise, Mazda MX-5, MGF and Porsche Boxster were just some of the sports cars bugging you for your millennium pound.
Meanwhile, the Ford Puma was acting like an appetiser for the main course – serving up front-wheel-drive delights to prepare drivers for the joy of rear-wheel-drive heaven. How many Ford Puma owners spent time on the nursery slopes before tackling the black runs offered by the preeminent sports car manufacturers?
Million-dollar paperweights
Where are the affordable sports cars of 2021? Hardly a week goes by without a carmaker unveiling another unattainable and inaccessible hypercar that you can’t afford, can’t buy and can’t drive. Million-dollar paperweights destined for air-conditioned basements and the auction catalogues of 2031.
We’ve allowed this to happen. By falling at the heels of crossovers and SUVs, we’ve sent sports cars spiralling into oblivion, rendering them uneconomically unviable for many manufacturers. We’re lucky that Renault had the guts to launch the Alpine A110, but where’s the Copen GR Sport equivalent for the UK market?
Saying you can have fun in a small SUV is like saying you can enjoy telephone hold music. Both are there to serve a purpose, but you wouldn’t want to spend longer than you have to enduring them. The Copen GR Sport looks like fun even when it’s standing still.
“Toyota Gazoo Racing will continue to make efforts to create attractive cars for car fans through dialogues with customers, utilising the voices of many car enthusiasts to create ever-better cars,” says Toyota.
Bring it over here, Toyota. We’re ready for your ‘ever-better cars‘.
The pure electricSkoda Enyaq has been named Scottish Car of the Year 2021, one of four gongs picked up by the Czech brand at the latest awards.
The Octavia also collected a hat-trick of awards, being named best family hatchback, best plug-in hybrid and best estate. It is the first time a single car has won three category prizes in the Scottish Car of the Year Awards.
“Skoda had an amazing run,” said Jack McKeown, president of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers, which runs the awards.
“The Enyaq saw off some tough competition to be crowned Scottish Car of the Year. Its styling, practicality and value were all factors, but it was the way it made switching from petrol to electric feel so easy that most impressed us.”
Speaking at the awards, Skoda UK head of marketing Kirsten Stagg said: “Electrification presents us with an incredible opportunity.
“As a brand, we have become known for delivering a high quality ownership experience without the premium price tag.
“We want to continue that as we transition into electric cars.”
Scotland’s cars of the year 2021
Other victors in the 2021 awards include the Dacia Sandero, which was named best small car, and its crossover-style sibling, the Sandero Stepway, which took the best small SUV prize.
The Hyundai Tucson was best family SUV and the Kia Sorento took large SUV honours – with premium Kia-Hyundai sister brand Genesis winning best luxury SUV with its GV80.
The BMW 4 Series was best executive car, the Mazda MX-30 took best EV for less than £35,000, the Suzuki Swace was the best hybrid and the SsangYong Rexton was voted best 4×4.
Ineos claimed its first major car awards gong with the Grenadier winning the design and innovation prize.
“Every one of our category winners is a superb vehicle in its own right,” said Jack McKeown, “and even being shortlisted for a SCOTY award is an impressive accomplishment for any manufacturer.”
Lamborghini will “celebrate the internal combustion engine” before all its cars become plug-in hybrids from 2024.
Francesco Cresci, the brand’s director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also revealed that two new models are due next year – and hinted at another limited-run hypercar to follow the recent £2 million (and sold-out) Countach.
With the replacement for the ageing Aventador pushed back to 2023, one of the new arrivals is likely to be a faster, more focused version of the Urus. The V8-engined ‘super-SUV’ accounts for 50-60 percent of sales and has hugely bolstered Lamborghini’s bottom line.
“We built 200 cars a year, on average, for the first 40 years of this company,” Cresci explains. “For 2021, we’re on-track to make around 7,500.”
Bring the noise
A fully electric car will come “closer to 2030”, following a £1.5 billion investment, as Lamborghini aims to “become a symbol of human progression”.
However, Cresci is upfront about the challenges ahead. “Sound is more of the main characteristics of a Lamborghini. You can make EVs sound different, of course, but we want to retain the emotion of driving.”
In fact, Lamborghini hasn’t given up on howling V10s and V12s just yet. Like Porsche – also part of the Volkswagen Group ‒ the company is researching synthetic fuels. Also known as e-fuels, these are made from green hydrogen and carbon captured from the atmosphere. They could, potentially, offer the supercar another lease of life.
A four-car range
Cresci also confirmed a ‘fourth model’ is in development, which will sit apart from the Urus, Huracan and Aventador. Persistent rumours point to a sleek saloon in the mould of the 2008 Estoque concept (and indeed the Porsche Taycan).
Although he wouldn’t be drawn, Cresci he did highlight the 1968 Espada – arguably the first four-seat supercar – alongside the Miura, Countach and LM002 as one of Lamborghini’s “most iconic models”.
British motorists are turning to electric vehicles in ever-greater numbers but the rapid growth of EVs is under threat from a below-par charging infrastructure warns the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Speaking at the organisation’s 104th Annual Dinner, SMMT president Dr George Gillespie said there are already more than 115 zero emission capable vehicles on sale in the UK and the industry “has inspired the public to buy these exciting vehicles in numbers never seen before.
“But here is the twist. It is so frustrating to find broken chargers, blocked chargers, multiple apps, confusing payment schemes.
“This is quickly going to turn a lot of people off electric vehicles and all our work in developing these fantastic vehicles will be wasted.”
The warning was delivered to a guest list that included automotive industry executives, media, and other stakeholder representatives – including government.
Plans – and mandates?
The SMMT is calling for long-term strategies to address the challenges faced by the UK automotive industry, with a particularly focus on upping the pace of EV charging infrastructure.
“As electric vehicle sales race ahead,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes, “on-street charging infrastructure is increasing slowly.
“We look to government to create the conditions – maybe mandate the conditions – to accelerate the infrastructure across the country, as we need others to match our speed.”
The SMMT says more plug-in electric cars will be sold in 2021 than in the entire previous decade, and a third of British-built cars are now electrified.
Automotive manufacturing, it adds, is Britain’s most valuable export, with around 155,000 people employed in “highly skilled, well-paid jobs across the country.
Frank Stephenson makes even an introductory Zoom chat feel like a long-overdue reunion. Sharp and switched-on, yet brimming with endless anecdotes (many of which I can’t print here), the 61-year-old car designer is an ideal interviewee. As viewers of his YouTube channel will know, he doesn’t shy from strong opinion either.
Starting with the spoiler on the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Frank’s design CV includes the BMW X5, modern Mini and Fiat 500, McLaren P1 and many more. Here, he talks about his career so far, what inspires him and some of his favourite cars. And he explains where BMW design has gone “wrong, wrong, wrong…”
Tell us about your childhood. You were very well-travelled…
I grew up in Casablanca, Morocco, with my American father and Spanish mother. That sounds exotic to some people, but it was just normal for me. Horses and donkeys were far more important than cars. I attended an English-speaking school from the age of six, then we moved to Istanbul, Turkey, when I was 11.
We relocated again to Madrid, Spain, for my last year of high school, when I started racing motorcycles. I won the Spanish motocross championship twice, then joined a factory team. It was lots of fun, but I wasn’t making enough money to leave home. So, at the age of 22, I applied to university in California to study car design.
The course took four gruelling years, working seven days a week with no social life. It was like a marathon; the moment you stopped, you lost momentum. But when I graduated, I was ready to hit the ground running.
What made you decide to become a car designer?
One single moment that changed my life forever. On the 19th of March 1969, I was walking hand-in-hand with my father through Casablanca when we saw a Jaguar E-Type. It was an early Fixed Head Coupe, and I was transfixed. My father had to drag me away.
That car still has an emotional impact for me today. Some people are transported by smells or listening to music; for me it’s all visual. I see an E-Type and I’m back in Morocco in a flash.
You began your career at Ford, designing the spoiler for the Escort RS Cosworth. Quite the calling card…
That was the first project I got my teeth into. Ford had approached me during my university course, so I already had a job lined up. I moved to Cologne, which was in West Germany at the time, and started work in the wind tunnel.
The Cosworth was unusual because it used an Escort body on the platform of another car [the Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4]. It needed lots of rear downforce for racing, and this was before the age of diffusers on production cars. But I had the freedom to think outside the box.
Inspired by the Red Baron and his Fokker DR.1 tri-wing plane, I designed a triple-layer spoiler. It looked crazy and worked brilliantly in terms of aerodynamics. You couldn’t see much out of the back window, but that wasn’t the point. The three-tier wing could have become iconic, but it fell victim to Ford cost-cutting.
You then moved to BMW and designed the original X5. Did you foresee how SUVs would transform the car market?
I don’t think anyone knew what effect the X5 would have. BMW called it an SAV – a ‘Sports Activity Vehicle’ – because it reinvented the SUV as we knew it.
The brief was to design a BMW based on the Land Rover [Range Rover L322] platform that could be used for anything, from the school run to visiting the opera. It combined the sportiness BMW was known for with the comfort of a 7 Series, plus off-road ability that wasn’t far off a Land Rover.
Female drivers in particular loved the ‘command driving position’, which was up high for great visibility. What started as a niche quickly became mainstream. The X5 really opened up the market.
Was it hard seeing Chris Bangle rip up the rulebook at BMW?
I remember Chris Bangle walking into the design studio in 1993, dressed in a neon blue suit and cowboy boots. He just yelled: “Hey guys, how y’all doing? I’m your new boss!”. We asked him if he’d ever designed anything and he mentioned a car coming soon called the Fiat Coupe. Nobody knew who he was at the time.
Chris wanted to take BMW design in a different direction, although his ideas kept being shot down at first. It was only when Dr Pischetsrieder took over as chairman that the ‘flame surfacing’ revolution began. I was actually more focused on the Mini project at that point.
Domagoj Dukec, BMW’s current head of design, says shock-value is more important than beauty. What’s your take?
That sounds like a good excuse for a bad design. The 4 Series has shocked alright, but this is shock for its own sake. BMWs are about understated elegance.
You have to consider what a car is meant to do. In a ‘haute couture’ hypercar, shock is a valid reaction, but not for a 4 Series. I’ve heard it was designed that way for the Chinese market. So why do the rest of us have to suffer?
Just slapping a licence plate across the front like a band-aid… how much less refined can a BMW be? It completely turns me off. I find it hard to believe that somebody stood back and said: “Yep, let’s build it”. Were they in a beer garden at the time?
Two of your most celebrated designs are the Mini of 2000 and Fiat 500 of 2007. How do you reimagine an icon?
The Mini took a long time, but was one of the most interesting projects I’ve worked on. BMW was determined to get it right. The key objective was to handle it like a British brand, not a German one. It needed to be classless and almost timeless, like the 1959 original.
We had less than a year to design and launch the 500 – its mission was to turn around the company. Fortunately, Fiat had this lovable icon in its past, and it still existed in Italian minds as part of their heritage. We capitalised on the evolutionary approach taken with the Mini, then offered plenty of customisation on top. It still looks just as fresh today.
You joined McLaren in 2008 and helped shape the brand from scratch. Was that challenging – or liberating?
It was both. I could do anything, but what I did had to be right. A Ferrari has to look like a Ferrari, right? The MP4-12C didn’t need to look like a McLaren.
Having been a Formula One constructor, McLaren wasn’t known for making beautiful cars. I took a ‘fit for purpose’ approach to the design, shrink-wrapping the skin around the components like an F1 car, for minimum visual mass. It created a design language for the brand.
What’s easier to design, a supermini or a supercar?
It’s doesn’t matter what kind of car you’re designing, the challenge is to make it emotionally and immediately desirable. Nobody has to buy your product, after all: there are enough choices on the market. So if you want your car to be ‘The One’, it needs to be love at first sight.
You need to be conscious of cost, of course. But ultimately you want to make each detail as good as possible – let somebody else put a price on it. That’s not the designer’s job.
What are your three favourite car designs ever?
I’ll go for three cars from three different eras. From the Art Deco period, the Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop Coupe. It’s one of the most beautiful cars in history – just gorgeous.
Then from the 1960s, when car designers were true artists and sculptors, I’ll choose the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. It has a lot of innovation in the glass area. And it’s tight, tiny and perfectly proportioned.
Finally, from the modern age, one of my own: the McLaren P1. We weren’t sure about the design at first, but it still looks good in the wild.
What is your daily-driver, and do you own any of the cars you designed?
My wife owns a Fiat 500 cabriolet, but I have a Land Rover Freelander. It’s like an old pair of blue jeans – I just throw the dogs in the back and don’t worry about getting it dirty.
For fun, I’ve got a Ducati – a highly modified 1198S with a carbon rear spring, aero wings and everything replaced. Much as I love cars, I feel more awake and alive on a motorcycle.
Postscript: the AUTOBEST Think Tank
Since our interview, Frank has begun working with AUTOBEST, the independent organisation behind the Best Buy Car of Europe awards.
A total of 32 journalist jurors, including our very own Richard Aucock, select an overall winner each year, with 2022’s finalists including the Dacia Spring, Toyota Yaris Cross and Vauxhall Mokka-e.
Frank’s role is to lead a new initiative: the Think Tank. Dan Vardie, AUTOBEST founder and chairman, said: “Through this, we will more deeply explore the future of mobility, giving people better visibility and understanding of what is going to happen in the coming years”.
