Anything we can do, the Italians can do with more style

FASHION, food, fine art and prime ministerial sex scandals. Yup, the Italians do just about everything not only better, but more stylishly than we Brits can.

It's the same for cars, because they've had a hand in shaping more cars than you'd probably imagine. Ever owned an original Golf, a Peugeot 406 Coupe, a Lotus Esprit or a Daewoo Matiz and wondered why they're strangely good looking? It's because they've all been sculpted by the automotive artists of Italy, even though the manufacturers in most cases would rather you didn't know about it. All cars with a flair you can't get from any other country, and that's before I get onto the endless procession of Ferraris, Fiats and Alfas.

Take Turin-based Bertone, which last week launched a tantalisingly tempting glimpse of what the next Jaguar X-Type should look like. Anyone who read my article on the old E-Type last week will already know I like my Jags, but the stunning B99 concept car couldn't have been further from the Mondeo-in-drag X-Type if it tried. It's just a shame you'll never see one at your local dealer.

Some show cars, like the Audi TT, do make it from motorshow to motorway almost unchanged, but they're the exception rather than the rule. It's much more likely you'll get something like the Porsche Boxster, which looked a bit like an Art Deco spaceship when it was first shown off in 1993, but what we actually got three years later was completely watered down.

The B99, if anything, reminds me of the Series 3 XJ6 from the late Seventies, which is what happens when you give an already elegant executive saloon to the Italians to play with. It's like sticking James Bond in an Armani dinner jacket - English, obviously, but with a hint of delicate Italian flair.

It's just a shame I reckon Jaguar - a company with a long and proud history of not putting concept cars into production - probably won't make it. Pity really, because they've not really got an excuse not to.

We as as species have longed cracked the conumdrum of making cars work properly, which frees our talented engineers and designers up to stop so many of them looking so derivative. If we can get Italy, the most stylish nation on Earth, to help us out, then we should.

Life's too short to drive a boring car.