COMMENT
Steve Cropley
MY WEEK IN CARS
Callum Skye (top) and Tata Sierra look terrific
SUNDAY
On the basis that anything they do at Bicester Heritage will probably float my boat, I blagged my way into an event called Pistons &Pretzels, an impressive gathering of car designers organised by Munich-based (but internationally focused) consultancy Konzepthaus. As well as managing your design project, Konzepthaus will help you find the right people to bring it to life and make sure they’re up to speed with the best design software, which, I kept hearing, is vital.
CEO Martin Groschwald ensured the mood of the event was light –many of the 120 or so designers present exercised their own cars on Heritage’s handling course – but some chose to do business by displaying concept cars in the hangar. This led to my own first sighting of Ian Callum’s new £80k off-road Skye EV buggy (34 ordered before building even begins). It looked wonderful. I was also deeply impressed with a thoroughly modern, UK-designed Tata Sierra compact SUV, created to do the Dacia Duster’s job in India as an EV. I’ll bet it could succeed here too.