At Full Chat

Just had one of my best Friday nights out for a long time. It didn't involve driving, girls, booze, food or music. Instead, I was back in school. Thankfully, not to study, but to see the work of scores of young men and women (overwhelmingly the former, it must be said) who recently became graduates of Coventry University's car design course. They will be shaping our vehicles of the future.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Mike Rutherford

21st June 2005

It's impossible to name them all here, but a handful are, I predict, stars of tomorrow. Greg Shilton looks like a cross between Albert Einstein and pop singer Jarvis Cocker - so you wouldn't expect him to have invented a futuristic, semi-autonomous commuter vehicle system. It effectively puts motorway drivers in long, computer-controlled trains of cars travelling inches apart, leaving spaces for vehicles joining from slip roads.

Daniel Durrant's Nexum 2025 splits in two, so parents and teenagers can share it. He cheekily put a Nissan badge on the car, and I'd advise the firm to sign this level-headed man before a rival does. Bustami Pollard, a sharp-suited Singaporian Malaysian Italian Englishman, demonstrated his versatility with two different offerings. One was an electric Alfa Romeo supercar; the other a minimalist two-seater Ford public transport vehicle. He has style, an ability to think deeper than most, and isn't a bad designer.

Others worthy of mention include Ezrin K Rajar's SUV, which shrinks or grows like a trombone depending on how many people need to travel in it. His name will trouble the personnel desk, but Krzysztof Szews's Momentum GT supercar will delight the boss. Mohammed Imran Younas stood out from the crowd, not least because he says in his notes to prospective employers that he couldn't have studied hard and produced his Crez Vida sports car were it not for his dad's money and his mum's curry!

Cheeky, confident and cross-eyed - according to his email address - is John Buckingham of Southport, Merseyside, who deserves praise for his outrageously aggressive Lagonda. Aston Martin would be mad to ignore it. But spare a thought for Richard Carr, who had arranged a valuable work placement with MG Rover. Enough said.

Finally, there's Mazda MX-5 driver Matthew Humphries who, as a student, penned the glorious Morgan Aeromax, which is now a running prototype and will surely make production this decade. He's since designed an open-top Morgan, which was my fav-ourite. Humphries is currently the best young automotive designer in Britain, if not the world. He says he can't wait for his first proper payday, so he can buy a corduroy suit. With the millions Matthew could make, such a modest ambition won't be a problem.