The last few weeks have been about as exciting as it gets for people who like sheets being pulled off of things, as Bentley, Jaguar, Tesla, Citroën, Alfa Romeo, and many more have all revealed new cars and concepts to the huddled masses of journalists, influencers and everyone else at home.
What is very clear is that we, the consumer of the car, are at a crossroads. Do we want futuristic things that can shoot compressed air and do backflips? According to Musk, we would be foolish to inhabit a world without them. But perhaps more intriguing than a glorified Hot Wheels created by the world’s richest man is how many makers have decided that to go forward we must go back. It’s a confusing world, the car one, when the conservative path is trodden not by Musk, but by the French, Germans and Italians. Go figure.
Tongues were wagging when the new Citroën 2CV rolled across the red carpet at the Paris Motor Show, a clear homage to the ubiquitous original, but they fell to the floor when Alfa Romeo unveiled the Cuorerosso concept, a four-door saloon powered by a hybrid V6 engine. And can you blame said tongues? Just look at it.
But if I had to pick a highlight from recent weeks, it is surely the Porsche Mission S, which has taken the idea of an analogue resurgence to the extreme. Here is a car that will sit above the 911 in the German maker’s range, it will come with a manual transmission, it has no screens and it needs an actual, physical, key to start it and stop it. Porsche has yet to reveal what will be powering this thing, but safe to say it will be fuelled by petrol. Again, just look at it.
What’s particularly intriguing about all these launches (bar the Tesla one, which we shall never speak of again) is how beautiful everything looks. The past few years have seen an influx of new EVs and hybrids from China that have been bought by punters in their droves, which is unsurprising considering that they work and that they are very cheap. Cheap things that work is usually a pretty successful strategy in getting people to buy things, and the message appears to have cut through in various boardrooms across the Continent that to compete, they must make things that people truly desire.
Necessity breeds invention. For the past decade, BMW, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo and all the rest have been resting on their laurels, at least when it comes to design, focusing too much on function and not enough on form. When everything looks the same, what else are people to do other than choose with their wallets?
So it’s nice to see a return to some proper car design. Shapes and angles and lines that you want to look at and be around, either because they are ‘retro’ and iconic, or because they just look so sexy you can’t imagine driving anything else. Go on, let’s look at the Alfa Romeo again.
And the Mission S, as a treat.
Obviously, many of these cars won’t make it to full production, and those that do will be very expensive. But they are the starting point for new designs, theories and directions, and one which allows the rest of us to differentiate what we drive and what we see around us, which is good because I spend a lot of time on the motorway, and it’s about time I had something nice to look at again.
What makes a car memorable is not what apps it has, or whether it can park itself or not. Those things are helpful, but they are not features that make you fall in love. What elevates the experience of driving is combining its utility with art; making the everyday exciting is the one thing that cannot be copied nor derived. You either have it or you don't. It's why heritage is so important, because it is a key foundation on form and feeling, and you cannot just draw it and build it in a factory in some province somewhere.
It's felt a bit hopeless recently, with new car after new car seeming bland and uninspiring, at least to drive, as firms rush to put more technology at one's fingertips, as if that is all that matters. It was time for a correction, and it feels like we've got one. As the nights close in and the temperature drops, the timing couldn't be better.
Bugatti, now in book form
If you are reading this, chances are you enjoy reading about cars, and potentially also like looking at pictures of cars. The good news is that there is are some new books that can help you indulge those desires.
First up is the Story of Bugatti, by Country Life’s very own road-going rake Adam Hay-Nicholls. He explores the story of the timeless EB Bugatti badge, from the Type 35 racer all the way to the Bolide of the 21st century.
'Bugatti built the most elegant cars of the pre-war period. Its works drivers were a courageous bunch, many of whom flew fighter planes in the First World War and several of whom were absolutely vital to the French Resistance in the Second World War,' says Hay-Nicholls. 'After the war the brand was as good as buried, but then resurrected itself with the help of VW to once again become the most decadent car builder in the world. Only thing is, instead of artists and aristocrats, spies and war heroes, they’re now bought by footballers and crypto bros. As Le Patron, Ettore Bugatti, stipulated: “Nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too expensive."'
It is the latest release in the bestselling Story of Cars series, and is out now.
Slightly less crypto bro-y, and certainly far more refined and English, is Aston Martin, which is the focus of the latest of teNeues ‘Milestones’ series. From humble beginnings in 1914, the British carmaker has built icons such as the DB4, DB5, V8 and Valhalla, and this latest book is surely a must-have for anyone partial to James Bond’s carriage of choice. Penned by Roland Löwisch, it’s on shelves from November 12.
