The moment of truth

Early morning, December 2017. Water vapour from cold-started exhausts hangs in the air. A dozen or so metallic blue pre-production Alpines are idling in the car park of the hotel, a converted chateau sitting in the middle of an idyllic vineyard, the backdrop an almost ridiculously pretty swathe of the hills around Aix-en-Provence in the south of France.

It’s the long-awaited press launch of the new A110. I know those hills are threaded with endless twisting, bumpy back roads, perfect for showing off the chassis of these little cars me and my team have been working on for the last few years. I am wandering about, wearing my Alpine corporate jacket, helping to get the journalists strapped safely into the cars, pointing out various controls, answering questions about the road test route we’d designed – well aware that many would ignore it anyway.