Sotogrande 11310 is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after postcodes on the planet. The latest sales data shows that this highly exclusive area on the southern end of the Costa del Sol in Spain is now rivalling Monaco, St Tropez, Mayfair and The Hamptons as the most desirable destination on Earth.
Its unique 11310 postcode is proving increasingly enticing to ultra-high-net-worth buyers. They are drawn by luxury living, state-of-the-art developments and some of Europe’s most prestigious golf courses.
To reinforce the point, in 2024 Sotogrande’s property market saw a 30 percent rise in average sales prices compared to the previous year. The new average is over €1.9 million and the peak of the market topped €17 million for the first time. It is clear that business is booming.
Living area of AQUA, by Manuel Ruiz Moriche (ARK Architects). This villa, located at The 15, sold for €12m.
This remarkable success story has been powered by pivotal developments such as The 15 and Village Verde. More than 15 percent of the plots and villas at The 15 have now been purchased, while AQUA – an…
A new luxury boutique at Westfield Shopping Centre White City
The hottest destination for watch & jewellery aficionados in the know is the new-look Bucherer boutique at Westfield Shopping Centre in London’s White City. Situated in mall’s exclusive ‘Village’ alongside the world’s most prestigious designer names, the extensively refurbished 370sqm space creates the perfect luxurious ambience in which to experience a selection of fine watches […]
Last Sunday, we embarked on a tail-wagging adventure to Ross & Friends to discover their new Doggy Afternoon Tea. Tucked away just off the M25, this doggy haven is a true paradise for pups and their doting “pawrents”. IT offers over 35 acres of safe, enclosed space for dogs to run free, play, and explore […]
Yoga is not limited to the performance of a few asana on a yoga mat. Yoga is a self-development practice that progressively pervades day-to-day life. Here is a small “first thing in the morning” practice that you might want to try even if you do not practice yoga and do not intend to. You wake up and open an eye. Maybe you extend your arm to grab your mobile phone to check the clock and perhaps some mails, posts or news pushed-in during the night. You start your normal routine, moving to your bathroom to take a shower or your kitchen to sip your first coffee or tea of the day. Your mind already started listing some of the Do’s of the day. You are focused on this buzz, while performing usual morning gestures and actions in automatic pilot.
Stop and rewind. Unlike in real life, you have the chance to experience the play for a second time: You wake up and open an eye. You avoid letting your mind begin to chatter and auto-run like a computer programme to plan and comment on the tasks of the day. Instead, you stay alert and keep your mind quiet, just observing your natural breath and feeling the simple pleasure of being alive. Gently stretch, enjoying feeling each part of your body progressively wake up. Finally, get out of bed and, walking to your bathroom or your kitchen, feel the contact of the sole of your feet with the carpet. Then, continue your morning routine observing with a silent mind all the messages conveyed by your five senses: the cascading of the water on your skin when you are in the shower, the smell of the body wash, the colour of the morning sky though the window, the noise of the bread jumping off the toaster, the taste of your coffee or tea…
Just acknowledge the thought and let it go…
– Lydie Gala
Try living every single moment and action as a brand new experience that you have never lived before, dedicating all the attention and intensity you only devote to critical things you experience for the first time; and when your mind starts telling you “What are you doing? Stop this useless practice, hurry up”, just acknowledge the thought and let it go, gently coming back in full and silent attention to your routine. What is the difference between the two scenarios described above? The difference is that, in the second one, for a few minutes, you stopped acting mechanically.
You managed to keep your mind silent, focus on the present moment and on the perceptions of the now. The difference is attention. If you manage to do this little morning practice for one month, you will start experiencing interesting and perhaps even amazing things. I will not explain to you what will happen, because everybody’s experiences and feelings are unique. It is your practice. What I can certainly tell you, however, is that you will have initiated a path to bring more awareness and more buoyancy into your life, to become more alive.
About the author: Lydie is a Yoga Alliance and Yoga Academy certified yoga teacher RYT 200. She left the busy corporate world a few years ago to move to a slower life in Morocco. For more information on Lydie’s yoga teaching you can reach her via Instagram:
Good news at last! One of our favourite riverside restaurateurs has come up with an ingenious plan to keep us sane and entertained. While we wait with anticipation for Sam and his incredible team to reopen their doors, we have Quiz night. Personally I can’t wait.
Drawing on his impressive address book and a few favours, restaurateur Sam Harrison, of Sam’s Riverside in Hammersmith, west London, has devised plans to launch two online Celebrity Quiz Nights, on 16 and 29 June. The initiative will be fun with a focus on supporting the restaurant’s own lifeline to reopen in July, and also raising money for the Charlie Waller Memorial HostTrust (www.cwmt.org).
Live on Zoom webinar, and kicking off both nights at 7pm, participants will pay £25 per household, with bookings made via the Sam’s Riverside website (www.samsriverside.co.uk) and EventBrite from Monday, 8 June. Sam has also assembled an impressive list of prizes for several lucky participants, including a Summer Wine Selection from Ellis Wines, a Mega Food Hamper from HG Walter Butchers and Oui Chef Fruit & Vegetables, Riverside Studios Cinema Vouchers, and also a meal for four people at Sam’s Riverside.
The quiz players will see all the celebrity hosts as they pose their round of questions, and will be able to immediately post their answers to each question on a special interactive scoring system.
The line-ups for the two quiz nights are below:
Tuesday, 16 June Iain Morris (Co-Creator of The Inbetweeners) is hosting Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly (TV Hosts) – TV Round Joe Thomas (Actor) – General Knowledge Round Andy Nyman (Actor) – Theatre Round William Sitwell (Saturday Telegraph Magazine Restaurant Critic) – Food & Drink Round Iain Morris & Sam Harrison – West London Facts Round
Monday, 29 June David Tennant (Actor) is hosting Connor Swindells (Actor) – TV Round Suranne Jones (Actor) – General Knowledge Round Alistair Petrie (Actor) – Theatre Round Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday Restaurant Critic) – Food & Drink Round Adam James (Actor) – West London Facts Round
For further information, check the website – www.samsriverside.co.uk Sam’s Riverside – Crisp Walk, Hammersmith, London W6 9DN Instagram/Twitter – @samsriversidew6
Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet, the company remains a family business today that has not been sold at any point in history, a very rare case in today’s watch world. In 2014, the Swiss manufacturer asked the architectural firms Bjarke Ingels Group and CCHE to design an expansion to their historical premises.
The result was a contemporary spiral-shaped glass pavilion to complement the company’s oldest building, blending tradition and forward thinking, offering a pristine setting for the horological creations that have made Audemars Piguet one of the most prestigious watchmakers in the world. The curved glazing entirely supports the steel roof, while a brass mesh runs along the external surface to regulate light and temperature. The green roof further helps regulate temperature, while absorbing water. Inside, the curved glass walls converge clockwise towards the spiral’s centre, before moving in the opposite direction: visitors travel through the building as they would through the spring of a timepiece.
More than 300 watches are on display at the museum, including feats of complication, miniaturisation and unconventional designs. These watches tell the story of how modest 19th century artisans from an isolated valley at the heart of the Swiss Jura produced creations that caught the eye of metropolitan clients far beyond their borders and today, continue to captivate watch enthusiasts across the world.
The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet offers a unique perspective of the Vallée de Joux and of the history of watchmaking, a project made possible thanks to the creativity and collaboration of a host of experts, including architects, engineers and local artisans. Traditional workshops, where some of the manufacture’s most complicated timepieces are still perfected today, have been included in the museum’s spatial experience to bring visitors in close contact with Audemars Piguet’s craftspeople.
“We wanted visitors to experience our heritage, savoir-faire, cultural origins and openness to the world in a building that would reflect both our rootedness and forward-thinking spirit. But, before all, we wanted to pay tribute to the watchmakers and craftspeople who have made what Audemars Piguet is today, generation after generation.”
Jasmine Audemars , Audemars Piguet’s Chairwoman of the Board of Directors to offer visitors a truly diverse experience, museum designer Atelier Brückner imagined the composition of the exhibition as a musical score. Interludes, including sculptures, automata, kinetic installations and mock-ups of intricate mechnical movements, give life to various aspects of horological technique and design. Visitors are also invited to try their hand at some of the ancestral techniques perpetuated by Audemars Piguet, such as satin brushing and circular graining. The visit culminates at the centre of the spiral with the display of Grandes Complications, where each watch composed of more than 648 components spends six to eight months in the hands of a single watchmaker before leaving the workshop.
The second specialized workshop at the heart of the spiral hosts the Métiers d’Art, where Haute Joaillerie creations are conceived and crafted by highly skilled jewellers, gem-setters and engravers. The astronomical, chiming and chronograph complications that have been at the core of Audemars Piguet since its establishment are orbiting around the ultra-complicated Universelle pocket watch from 1899. Inspired by the solar system, the spherical showcases of this section evoke the astronomical cycles of time at the heart of watchmaking.
The watch exhibition ends on a rich collection of Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore and Royal Oak Concept.
The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet also houses the Audemars Piguet Foundation, which has contributed to forest conservation through environmental protection and youth awareness- raising programmes since 1992. Preserving forests, educating children to the environment, restoring biodiversity and valuing traditional knowledge are the Foundation’s top priorities. Its approach aims to initiate, through the projects funded, a virtuous circle of sustainable development, by and with local communities.
The Board of the Audemars Piguet Foundation is chaired by Mrs. Jasmine Audemars, Audemars Piguet’s Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Since 2012, Audemars Piguet has fostered a creative dialogue between contemporary art and Haute Horlogerie by commissioning artists to explore its geographic and cultural origins as well as themes including complexity and precision. For the opening of its Musée Atelier, they will exhibit commissioned artworks by friends of the brand Dan Holdsworth, Quayola and Alexandre Joly, which offer a creative interpretations of Audemars Piguet’s origins in the Vallée de Joux.
How far is it from battlefield to catwalk? Not very far when you look at the trench coat, a classic that in the century since it trod through the mud of Flanders remains, in essence, unchanged on the catwalks of Burberry, Hermès and Bottega Veneta today, but for a few tweaks here and there. Originally designed as a military garment, the architecture of the coat remains the same, but how much protection these catwalk versions would afford in a storm is debatable. One can only imagine what Lord Kitchener, who helped popularise the trench coat in the Great War, would make of the silk scarf versions on the Burberry catwalk today or any of its other recent incarnations.
Burberry produced it one season in silk-chiffon and succeeded in making it waterproof, nevertheless the trench coat has become somewhat divorced from its original function. Initially called the Tielocken, it is one of clothing’s perma-trends: a tough weatherproof utilitarian garment invented at the time of the Boer War, before being upgraded for the trenches of Northern France. This waterproof has become an enduring item, adapted and updated with the generations to emerge the icon that it is today.
Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s creative director from 2001 to 2018, summed up its qualities a few years ago, “The trench is a very modern way of dressing as it goes over everything in whatever weather.” It’s more than a coat he said, “it’s a piece of engineering. There are so many aspects to it: it’s functional yet it is fashionable, and the details, from the belt and buckles to the stole flaps and D-rings, are all so carefully designed. It is clothing with real integrity and purpose.”
His successor Riccardo Tisci has found the coat similarly enticing having featured 20 trenches in his debut collection and many more since. He recalled in a recent interview how in France a Chanel bag may be given by parents to reward good behaviour at school, whereas in England it is the Burberry trench.
It is something I discovered here,” he says, “Adele told me the first thing she bought when her first single came out was a Burberry trench.
Between them, Bailey and Tisci have elevated the trench coat to a fashion statement reproducing it in silk, chiffon, satin, tweed bouclé and more. We see it today in checks on the catwalk of Prada, in suede at Hermès, leather at Bottega Veneta where new designer of the year, Daniel Lee, presented three relaxed versions for spring, and in nude pink by Alexa Chung for Barbour. Classic brands like Aquascutum, Daks and Mackintosh produce new versions each season, because the trench is a superb trans-seasonal coat that pretty much works all year round. It solves so many sartorial problems being uniform-smart without being too formal; classy because of its heritage but also democratic.
As Bailey once said: “I’ve always been intrigued by mixing historical sartorial design with harder-edged modernity, by the play between aristocratic and street style.” Elizabeth Murray, a fashion curator at the Victoria & Albert museum believes part of the trench coat’s success is down to its versatility: “Designers can reinterpret the trench coat season after season, its utilitarian design making it both timeless and unmistakably modern,” she says. The V&A collection has a number of different examples of trench coats, including a classic beige gabardine coat from c. 1972, a lilac lace Burberry design by Christopher Bailey for S/S 2014 and a black trench coat by Swedish company Filippa K, made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles. “These examples highlight the versatility of the trench coat, and the range of ways designers reinterpret and adapt the design.”
Aquascutum’s heritage like that of Burberry is very tightly stitched to that of the trench coat, as both brands have laid claim to designing the original. In the early 1850s, the Regent Street tailor and entrepreneur John Emary patented a waterproof wool which he called “Watershield”. Its Latin translation Aquascutum was the name by which the company became known. They made coats using this material which that worn by soldiers in the Crimean War.
Burberry Spring-Summer 2020 collection for men.
Meanwhile in 1860, a draper in Basingstoke called Thomas Burberry developed a closely woven cotton gabardine that proved durable and weather-proof without using any waterproofing. Officers started wearing these weather-proof coats in the Boer War. By 1914 the military-style epaulettes and D-rings for the attachment of military equipment had been added and many soldiers serving in the trenches were issued with it; that’s how the coat earned its name. Whether it was first designed by Aquascutum or Burberry is difficult to confirm, however, the coat proved very popular amongst the ranks suffering the horrors of trench warfare.
The design received its first celebrity endorsement from Captain Sir John Alcock who was the first airman to fly across the Atlantic: “Although in continual mist, rain or sleet, and the altitude varying from 200 to 11,000 feet causing great variations of temperature, I kept as dry, warm and comfortable as possible under such conditions,” he wrote to Burberry.
The coat was subsequently adopted by Hollywood stars in film noir movies becoming a uniform for Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (dressed in Aquascutum trench-coat) and many of the Raymond Chandler films. Lauren Bacall simmered in beige trench in Key Largo (Aquascutum) as did Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Burberry). Sofia Loren, Robert Mitchum, Sir Michael Caine all wore Aquascutum trench-coats on screen. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, Meryl Streep in Kramer Vs Kramer are amongst those who wore Burberry ones. Lauren Hutton wore a trench coat in the 1980s film American Gigolo and glamorously reprised that look on the catwalk with Gigi Hadid to close the Bottega Veneta show in 2017.
Gigi Hadid and Lauren Hutton at the Bottega Veneta Spring-Summer 2017 show.
However, it is unconfirmed who designed the original for the movie – perhaps Giorgio Armani who designed much of the film’s wardrobe. The Queen also looks unfailingly smart in a trench-coat whether unveiling a plaque on a rainy day or out hacking on horseback in Windsor Great Park. While it remains popular in the corporate world and is the coat of choice for gumshoes and movie stars, its modern-day following amongst the fashion-savvy is the result of clever marketing by Burberry, whose campaigns shot by Mario Testino injected some much-needed zest and energy into the garment.
Models like Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Cara Delevigne, and young actors like Eddie Redmayne made the trench-coat sexy amongst the young generation.
Burberry and Aquascutum still have their classics, such as the updated Heritage collection re-introduced by Burberry in 2014 which neighbourhood names like Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea defining different styles of single and double-breasted styles.
While Aquascutum has a cropped double-breasted style called the Trafalgar and the fly-front Newman design. Fashion icon, wardrobe statement, the trench coat is one of the smartest fashion investments anyone can make.
Seventy years of Prancing Horse victories at Le Mans are celebrated in this exhibition, which looks back over the 36 wins recorded on the French track, with the help of some of the cars that competed in the famous races plus multimedia and interactive contents.
Visitors are welcome by the 166 MM Barchetta Touring. With a similar car, Lord Selsdon and Luigi Chinetti triumphed on 26 June 1949, on Ferrari’s debut at Le Mans. The British aristocrat and the Milanese driver transplanted to America faced a large number of British and French professionals whose cars had twice the engine capacity of the Ferrari. Nevertheless, they won with an average speed of 132.946 km/h. Chinetti went down in history by driving for over 23 hours, handing the wheel to Lord Selsdon for just 30 minutes. I bet the latter was happy!
Against all odds, Ferrari won Le Mans the first time they entered the race in 1949, with its 166MM.
The exhibition also includes the 275 P in which Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964 with an astonishing average speed of 195.63 km/h, ahead of two Ferrari 330 Ps. The 275 P is part of the legendary and incredibly successful P series; the number refers to the unit displacement, while the letter P stands for prototype.
Then, of course, there is the 488 GTE with which Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra won the last edition of the French marathon, gifting Ferrari its 27th class victory, 70 years after the first triumph of the 166 MM. In order to get you into the right mood, Ferrari has created “Le Mans Experience”, an exciting film that combines evocative images of the race with some of the most important messages recorded by the drivers and the team during the 24 Hours.
Ferrari 488GTE, winner of Le Mans 2019.
If you fancy yourself a Le Mans racer, you can have a virtual go at the wheel of the 488 GTE on the circuit of Le Mans, in the simulator set up inside the exhibition area.
Many other historical specimens are on display within the two current exhibitions in progress at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, ‘Hypercars – The evolution of uniqueness’ and ’90 years – Scuderia Ferrari, the complete story’. They are open every day from 9.30am to 7pm.
On the night of the 14th January The House of Bvlgari was named “Best Jewellery” of 2020 at the “Best of the Best Awards” in Shanghai, during which the Hurun Research Institute’s “Best of the Best” Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2020 was released, with Bvlgari topping the awards list for “Best Jewellery” after making the list for four consecutive years.
Bvlgari’s night did not stop there. They went on to win second place for “Best Brands for gifting by Women” and” Best Jewellery Watch” and made the list for “Best Overall Watch”. To be honest, such a success shouldn’t come as a surprise. Bvlgari not just says “glamour”, it yells it! With its refined, elegant designs and its extraordinary quality, the brand has exuded excellence since its very beginning, back in 1884. From the start, Bvlgari has been worn by some of the most beautiful women in the world. Richard Burton once said that “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bvlgari,” referring to his then-wife, Elizabeth Taylor.
Cinemagia High Jewelry Collection Dolcevita Colours Necklace.
One of the most glamorous actresses in cinematic history, Burton lavished her with jewellery gifts during the filming of Cleopatra in 1963. However, Liz Taylor was not the only diva from the golden years of Hollywood that favoured Bvlgari, formidable stars like Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren were big fans of the Rome based jewellery maker.
Established over a century ago, the famed jewellery house of Bvlgari has always stood for superlative Italian craftsmanship and savoir-faire. Throughout the years, the style of the Maison has continued to evolve with ever-changing trends in fashion, the tastes of their affluent clients and the roaring artistic landscape of the jewellery world. What remained unvaried is the impeccable quality guaranteed by each and every piece of art created by the master craftsmen and designers at Bvlgari, characterised by the bold use of chromatic colours, complemented by volume and masses that render the Maison’s majestic designs.
Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic BVLGARI Serpenti Seduttori.
The origins of these creations are found after the 1950s, when Bvlgari experimented with the playfulness of multi-coloured gemstones augmented by yellow gold mountings, as well as the generous use of cabochons that has afforded a distinctive fair unique to Bvlgari. As they approached the new millennium, designs returned to a more geometrical and two-dimensional expression, with a cheery “chicness” well-suited to the women of the 21st century. To me, Bvlgari, with its rich history and no-fear approach to design, is a true embodiment of the fun and audacious women of our present and future.
Opening photo: Crystal Ocean in the ‘Prince of Wales’ Stakes (2019)
While other girls grew up hearing the cheering for one or another football team, I was brought up hearing my father’s excitement about horse racing. Among many other races, every year, he would fly to Paris to attend the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. One year, he actually hired a private jet to spoil my beautiful mother and their closest friends to go to the iconic event.
Years later, I was privileged enough to be at Ascot when Frankie Dettori went through the card in 1996; watched him race home to victory twice at The Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe, once at Chantilly in 2017and then in 2018 back at Longchamp.
So I was honoured to be invited to the Longines’ Best Horse Race and Best Racehorse Awards a couple
Waldgeist in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2019).
of weeks ago. Longines has for a long time led the field as time keepers to the wonderful and exciting world of sport. You only have to delve in to their incredible history to see that not only they developed aviators’ watches and cockpit instruments but also created precision stop watches for the Olympic Games, thus ensuring athletes’ performances were accurately recorded. Longines has come to represent style, grace, beauty and unrivalled accuracy.
On Wednesday January 22, Longines and its long-time partner the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), were delighted to host the 2019 Longines World’s Best Horserace and Longines World’s Best Horse Race ceremony at The Landmark Hotel in London. The ceremony, now in its seventh year, honoured the three highest-rated horses in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings as well as the Longines World’s Best Horse Race.
Enable, Crystal Ocean and Waldgeist share the 2019 Longines title of World’s Best Racehorse.
This has been a very exciting year in Horse Racing, so exciting in fact, that three thoroughbreds shared the title of 2019 Longines World’s Best Racehorse: Crystal Ocean, Enable and Waldgeist, while the Longines Best Horse Race Award was presented to the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for a remarkable fourth time.
In the last few years, we have seen several jewellery and luxury watch brands opening private spaces in key locations around the world to offer their valued clients a home away from home experience, which is revolutionising the concept of luxury retail space.
Audemars Piguet has taken the idea to a new level with the opening of AP House in London, following the success of the AP private apartments in Hong Kong, Milan, Munich and Madrid. Set over 420 square metres on the first floor of an impressive historical building, the space overlooks one of the most famous street in the world -New Bond Street- and boasts a professional kitchen, a bar, a meeting room and a living room with a Steinway Spirio piano.
Lovers of the brand can enjoy some peace and quite in the middle of the hussle and bustle of Mayfair. Whether they pop over for a drink or to put their feet up for a while, the Audemars Piguet team’s impeccable service, lead by Managing Director Daniel Compton, is sure to make guests feel as comfortable as if they were in their own home. Throughout the year, the lounge will additionally play host to exclusive and informative events where guests can discover the Manufacture’s creations, its savoir-faire and its place in today’s horology world.
“Our loyal guests will be able to use the many spaces in a relaxed and informal way, as well as invite friends for lunch, or organise a business meeting…and there’s no obligation to buy a watch. You can take a seat, relax and chill out, if that’s where the mood takes you,”
The offices of Audemars Piguet in the UK have moved next door to AP house to guarantee that all requests by clients can be properly satisfied. It is advisable to phone in advance if you would like to see a specific piece to make sure it is available upon your arrival.
AP house represents the third commercial space by Audemars Piguet in London, after its concession in the Fine Watch Room at Harrods and their joint venture with French jeweller Arije in Knighstbridge.
AP House is opened Monday to Friday 10:00 – 18:00. 130 New Bond Street, London W1S 2TA. Tel. +44 207659-7300
Electric vehicles first appeared in the mid-19th century. But their high cost, low top speed and short battery range, compared to that of later internal combustion engine vehicles, led to a worldwide decline in their use. A century later, we realised that oil reserves are not infinite and that the pollution caused by motor vehicles is costing us the earth – literally. And so the search for alternative fuels and power sources commenced.
In the past 10 years, electric cars have inundated the market, from the early Nissan Leaf, which had a range of just 73 miles, to the current Jaguar I-PACE, which can theoretically do nearly 300 miles with one charge. Since 2010, combined sales of all-electric cars and utility vans achieved one million units delivered globally in September 2016 and combined global sales of light-duty all-electrics and plug-in hybrids passed the five-million mark in December 2018. The Government has been quick to jump on to the electric revolution bandwagon, currently offering a £3,500 grant for those purchasing electric cars (but nothing any more for hybrids) and running a multimillion pound advertising campaign.
Talking to friends and colleagues, I have noticed that women are much more likely to embrace environmentally friendly products and behaviours, something that Rebecca McNeil, CEO of Close Brothers Motor Finance, confirmed is called the “green-feminine stereotype.” Furthermore, Rebecca told us that, “according to our research, women are slightly more likely than men to be concerned about how environmentally friendly a car is when researching their next car (21% vs 18%). Women are also more likely to consider an EV for environmental reasons than men (25% vs 23%).” Electric car sales have played an important role in keeping the car industry alive. As Rebecca reminded us
at a time when sales of new cars have been hit by a global slowdown and political instability, sales of EVs have increased by 11% in the past year and look set to continue to rise.
At I-M, we decided to properly test electric cars from the newest generation, especially now that many claim to have hundreds of miles of autonomy and are as easy to charge as your mobile phone. We started with the Audi e-tron Quattro, which launched earlier this year to compete with the Model X by Tesla.
The Audi e-tron Quattro.
The car is everything you’d expect from an Audi: it’s beautifully designed, comfortable, and it goes like a dream. It has 21-inch contrasting alloy wheels, virtual door mirrors (it takes a while to get used to them), Audi Matrix LED headlights, rear lights and dynamic indicators (call me a child, but I love these) and a remarkably spacious boot. When we took it off-road, the e-tron revealed a wild side that we didn’t really expect, much to the delight of my children, who have a sense of self-preservation as poor as their mother’s. Its power comes from two electric engines, fed by a pack of 95kWh batteries. The total power is 272CV, but thanks to its “Boost” function, it can reach 408CV. In theory, it has an autonomy of over 250 miles – but the reality is much more complex than that and in our experience the range is closer to the 200-mile mark.
For our trip, we drove from West London to the countryside in Essex, a 65-mile journey. On our way there, we went through the centre of town, and because we drove snail-like most of the way, and also because every time you touch the brakes some power goes back into the battery, we hardly saw the charge needle change position. I must confess we didn’t do our homework, so went on with what I had heard about charging from domestic sockets: that it just takes a bit longer than from purpose-designed charging points. Well, this is not true. After four hours we had gained 12% charge.
In a bit of panic, we used the function in the Sat Nav which identifies the closest fast charging points and drove to one. Unfortunately, there was nothing there, just a housing estate. Oops! We went to the second option listed, and thankfully this time the fast charging points were there. After half an hour, the battery had charged 12%. With 65% battery charge, we made our way back to West London, this time via the motorways. Oh dear – the battery needle went down at the speed of light, so when we were back down to 45% after just 20 miles, we pulled over at a big service station off the M25, in which there was a total of three charging points; one of them was broken and there were six cars queueing to charge. Feeling bad about the other drivers, we used it for 20 minutes and gained… you guessed it: 12% charge. So we drove to the junction with the M1 where we stopped again, finding only two charging points and charging another 12%. Furthermore, in order to use these chargers you have to open accounts with each of the different companies that operate them, which is annoying and time-consuming.
By the time we got home, a journey that should have taken 90 minutes had taken three and a half hours.
The second electric car we tested was the Jaguar I-PACE. Before I go into any of its technical accomplishments, let me start by saying that this car is a lot of fun to drive. Inspired by the Jaguar C-X75 supercar, the I-PACE, Jaguar’s first 100% electric vehicle, boasts an advanced electric drivetrain and a cab-forward profile that make its overall design bold and dramatic.
The theoretical range of the I-PACE is almost 300 miles. I am not sure how they theorise range in electric cars, but in our experience, unless you drive at a constant speed of around 60mph, the real range is more like two thirds of the theoretical one. The I-PACE though, seemed to learn from my “excitable” driving style and the range on the screen kept re-adjusting. Performance is definitely not something you have to worry about. From a standing start, the I-PACE accelerates from 0-100km/h in 4.5seconds, with 400PS and 696Nm of torque. Handling, grip and steering responses are excellent too.
The attention to detail in the interior is remarkable. The state-of-the-art Touch Pro Duo flight deck elegantly combines with the distinctive floating centre console. Fear not, though – despite its futuristic appearance, it is intuitive and easy to use. And the coolest of the cool is the hologram-like image that the car projects on the ground every time you open the door. My son Luca, at just 18 years of age, is already converted to the Jaguar religion. You don’t need to worry if you are over 6ft tall (as Luca is). Despite the dramatic sloping roofline, there is plenty of rear headroom thanks to the low-slung seating position, which looks and feels much sportier.
The BMW i3.
That weekend, we avoided public charging points after the experience with the Audi e-tron (again, not Audi’s fault), so we just charged it from a domestic socket overnight and the morning after, abracadabra! A full charge showed on the screen. A few weeks later, we tested the new Mercedes EQC, the first car in the EQ family, a top of the range Mercedes. They call it Progressive Luxury. The EQC goes like the wind, thanks to two electric motors at the front and rear axles with a combined output of 300 kW. A sophisticated operating strategy enables an electric range of around 280 miles according to NEDC. In our experience, it is more like 200 miles.
As the first Mercedes-Benz model under the new product and technology brand EQ, the EQC has many trailblazing design details and colour highlights that, as my other son Marco said, “Are sick mum.” This arises from a clever combination of digital and analogue elements, which really work in the EQC. By virtue of its muscular proportions, the EQC is classed as a crossover SUV. Design-wise, they have gone for an extended roofline and window layout with a low waistline coupé-like roof recess at the rear.
A striking feature at the front is the large black-panel surface enclosing the headlamps and grille. The black panel is bordered at the top by an optical fibre as a visual link between the torch-like daytime running lamps as a typical Mercedes-Benz feature (another “sick bit” according to Marco). At night, this creates an almost uninterrupted, horizontal light band. Contrasting colour highlights discreetly confirm the model’s membership of the new EQ family: blue stripes on a black background, and multibeam lettering also in blue. The interior of the EQC has many details to impress those fond of the avant-garde electro-look (think Daft Punk). One example is the ribbed edge of the instrument panel, which resembles the cooling ribs of a hi-fi amplifier. The instrument panel is designed as a driver-oriented cockpit. The typical Mercedes-Benz wing profile is asymmetrical, with a “cut-out” in the driver’s area.
This is where one of the visual highlights of the cockpit is located – a high-tech, high-gloss cassette housing flat air vents with key-shaped, rosé-gold coloured louvres. As they say, humans tend to remember the good and forget the bad, and so we had almost forgotten the charging nightmare we experienced with our first electric car as we set off with the EQC on three-quarters’ charge. We did 100 miles before going down to 25% charge, when “range anxiety” kicked in and we found ourselves asking the onboard voice activated computer “Hey Mercedes!” for the closest fast charge point, which turned up to be a GeniePoint at a local petrol station.
The feline Jaguar I-Pace.
Oh dear! It couldn’t have gone worse than it did. For starters, it was pouring down and the charger point was outside the roof protection area offered to fossil fuel pumps. Secondly, I had to download yet another app, open an account and give all my details before I could plug the car in. In a perfect Murphy’s law scenario, not only was the charging point not working but once connected, it wouldn’t allow me to unplug my car! I had to call the helpline, where a very nice lady did her best to help me, which involved several remote trials to bring the charge point to heel.
After all of them failed, she asked me to wait until she could remotely reset the machine. So far, half an hour had gone by, during which I had seen an endless number of people filling their cars with good old petrol and continuing their journeys after no more than five minutes. After all that remote digital wizardry, still the GeniePoint charger would neither work nor let go of my car. It took another 10 minutes to sort out the problem. By then I was so soaked I thought I was about to grow gills behind my ears. Let’s leave it there.
A week or so later I was sharing my electric misery with a good friend who told me that my mistake was taking electric cars for long journeys. He said they were ideal for cities and that I had to try the BMW i3. So we got one to whizz around London. The first thing to say about this car is that it’s a really unique and responsive driving experience. It doesn’t have the acceleration of the I-PACE of the EQC but the BMW i3 goes from 0–62mph in 7.3 seconds, more than enough to beat most cars off a traffic light. Even with my “excitable” style of driving, the car only has to be charged every few days (most commuting journeys are no more than 20 miles long) so I was told that 80% of i3 drivers only ever charge at home (20 hours from a regular power socket). However, if you have a garage or a driveway, you can get a BMWi Wallbox installed and fully charge it in just five hours.
In all honesty, I didn’t have to charge it so I don’t know, but my friend Don, who owns one, swears by its range. The theoretical one is 223 miles and according to Don, the car probably does near 200 if kept in town or within a short commuting distance. BMW told me that other factors that affect range include wheel and tyre sizes selected, weather conditions, usage of heating/cooling and preconditioning. A trick up BMW’s sleeve is the BMW i Remote app, which helps drivers keep an eye on their battery charge and electric range via smartphone or smartwatch. If the BMW i3 is connected to a charging station, they can track the charging processes remotely. And then there are the savings on fuel – 10,000 miles of electricity in a BMW i3 will cost approximately £135 using today’s electricity rates. I didn’t check with the other electric cars, but I guess that the costs are pretty similar.
Interior of the Mercedes EQC.
With all that said, who is buying electric cars? It seems that dealers play a central role in giving customers advice, particularly those looking at buying a hybrid or electric car. Rebecca told us that their research suggests EV customers are more likely to rely on dealer advice, compared with those buying a standard vehicle (66% vs 55%). There is a challenge, though. Women don’t trust dealers. According to research by Brothers Motor Finance, women are less likely to rely on dealers for their car-buying research than men (64% vs 67%) and more likely to be going online (38% vs 35%) or speaking with friends and family (39% vs 25%). So it seems that even today, in our gender-equality society, there is still work to do in improving the overall car-buying experience for women.
Dealerships have also noticed this lack of trust on our side (women), so all across the UK, there has been a proliferation of actions to reach out to more prospective female buyers. Dealerships are organising women-only events, increasing the number of female dealers on the forecourts and asking their customers for feedback. Advertising also has an important role to play, which has historically focused on men.
There is an increasing number of car companies featuring women in their adverts who are actually driving, not just wrapped around the bonnet. That said, I have noticed that in most PR and advertising material from car companies, men are featured doing all the fun things and women are only driving when the dumb stuff is being shown, i.e. assisted parking, assisted lane control, loading the boot with groceries, etc. Going back to electric cars, it is obvious that there are still a number of sticking points, not just range and the availability of street charging points in residential areas, but things like where to get an MOT, or what happens when the car breaks down. All of these are questions that consumers have and which are potentially preventing them from making a purchase.
Another concern of mine is, if we all buy electric cars… where is all that electricity going to come from? We know for a fact that electricity from renewables is not ready to deal with a sharp surge in demand, so… what is the answer? Nuclear? More fossil fuels? Personally, I love the dream, but I am not sure electric cars are the answer, at least, not with the way infrastructure and electricity sourcing is at the moment, or can be expected to be in the short- to medium-term. With current range and charging availability, there is no way replicant Nexus-6 Roy would have reached the Tannhäuser Gate.
AUDI e-tron from £71,560 OTR
BMW i3 from £31,850 OTR (including plug-in car grant)
Jaguar I-Pace from £60,995 OTR (including plug-in car grant)
How far is it from battlefield to catwalk? Not very far when you look at the trench coat, a classic that in the century since it trod through the mud of Flanders remains, in essence, unchanged on the catwalks of Burberry, Hermès and Bottega Veneta today, but for a few tweaks here and there. Originally designed as a military garment, the architecture of the coat remains the same, but how much protection these catwalk versions would afford in a storm is debatable. One can only imagine what Lord Kitchener, who helped popularise the trench coat in the Great War, would make of the silk scarf versions on the Burberry catwalk today or any of its other recent incarnations.
While other girls grew up hearing the cheering for one or another football team, I was brought up hearing my father’s excitement about horse racing. Among many other races, every year, he would fly to Paris to attend the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. One year, he actually hired a private jet to spoil my beautiful mother and their closest friends to go to the iconic event.
In the last few years, we have seen several jewellery and luxury watch brands opening private spaces in key locations around the world to offer their valued clients a home away from home experience, which is revolutionising the concept of luxury retail space.
