UK supercar sector drives innovation

The golden age of British motoring brought with it a whole range of now-legendary cars: Jaguar’s finned D-type and iconic E-type, the MG Roadster, the Lotus Elan and the Aston Martin DB5. Britain’s sports cars were highly regarded — probably second only to the legendary Italian marques — and were the showpieces of what was then one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers.

Of course, things are different now. Although still making huge volumes of cars, Britain no longer has a home-owned volume manufacturer. But British sports cars are still highly regarded — Aston Martin is back in British hands and Jaguar, although now Indian-owned, still makes cars that can compete with both Ferrari and Porsche.

But that’s not the whole story. The performance and prestige end of the car industry today has a disproportionate number of British names. Some of them are echoes of the golden age — Morgan, for example, is still defiantly hand-crafting 1940s-style roadsters around modern drivetrains. The former wartime aircraft manufacturer Bristol exhibits its lovingly made Blenheim saloon and startling Fighter sports car from its anachronistic showroom amid the boutiques and restaurants of Kensington.