For me, this week’s Geneva Motor Show will go down as the one where I got lucky and managed to interview chatty people who were in a good mood and responded positively to my probing questions. Based on at least 10 previous experiences of visiting the event – I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been – that’s not always the case. Perhaps most open of all was an American car designer called Michael Robinson, who stood proudly next to his creation on the stand of Italian styling house Bertone. The stunning purple saloon was his take on what a new small Jaguar – a replacement for the X-Type – should look like. The concept car was created with the blessing of Jaguar designers, who were probably as eager as anyone else to know what they should do with that particular hole in their range. Robinson explained that what happens to the car next is completely out of his hands. Jaguar people have seen it and profess to like it, but moving from that to giving it the green light for production is a massive step. In modern times, Jaguar has never out-sourced design and production of a car, and in all honesty is probably not likely to with something as important as a new entry level saloon. At least Michael Robinson was honest enough to admit that. Nice guy. Will try to find him again at another show.
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