IT WAS GREAT to see the Ford Puma recognised at last by writer Stephen Dobie in Octane 239. Early in 1996 I joined Ford of Europe’s PR department, just as focus turned to the new Puma.
Reporting to the mercurial Ray Day, who was then heading new product launch – and later would become Ford’s global head of communications – my junior role was to help curate key messages from a technical perspective.
Month one was spent teasing newsworthy tech stories from often reticent engineers in every department in Dunton and Cologne. The aim was to flag up stories that best illustrated Ford’s embrace of clever, cost-effective engineering and vehicle dynamics – and its determination to restore its reputation after the 1990 Escort fiasco.
It wasn’t until the start of my second month that I actually sat behind the wheel. The launch team had finalised the press launch test route through Bavaria and, after six hours charging along beautifully smooth B-roads, plus a blast on the autobahn, I
