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where all the Frankfurt 2015 stories can be found in one place; here is our more informal, personal perspective on the biggest show in the business and the place for reflection on the mad, bad or merely curious.
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Last update: Wednesday 1120h
God how we hacks love to moan about Frankfurt. Too big, too bewildering, too many cars, moan, moan, moan. There was a point last night, mid carping, where a group of us all had to stop, look at each other, recognise that we were all standing in a glamorous location surriounded by James Bond cars holding glasses of constantly replenished Bollinger and admit that, OK, sometimes it's not all bad.
With the business done at the show, the loop the loop successfully pulled off (though there were some seriously worried faces on the night) and the F-Pace seemingly pulling in plenty of favourable comments the JLR team seemed in mood to let off steam a bit.
In the courtyard at the venue we had three vehicles created by JLR's Special Vehicle Operations for Spectre and appearances from Naomie Harris and David Bautista, respectively Moneypenny and Hinx from the new film. Or, to put it another way (and now Bautista is out of earshot), beauty and the beast. He's a big lad for sure, and certainly a good match for an SVO Defender.
We got a bit of teaser footage of Bautista in the C-X75 chasing Daniel Craig's Aston Martin DB10 around Rome in one of the signature sequences of the film; another features the Defender and Range Rover Sport SVR in the snow being chased by an aeroplane. Wham, bang, thank you ma'am and all that - looks suitably exciting of course and SVO boss John Edwards is clearly happy for the way the film showcases what his division is capable of. Still seems tantalising they'd build a fleet of converted C-X75s, give them such prominent exposure and then ... not build a production version. But Edwards was adament that, while you could have a Defender or Sport a bit like those in the film, the supercar would remain a prop.
So much for a taste of glamour. It's back to business today and I'm in my spot on the JLR stand, typing away. I've just been down to Ford to shoot the Focus RS and, have to say, those stats (and the price) are pretty damned impressive. Then a surprise - the new Megane is actually quite interesting and worthy of a story. Which is my next job...
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