Concept trio begins a new golden age for Aston Martin

What hits you like a lightning bolt when you first see Aston Martin Lagonda's extraordinary trio of Geneva concepts — as we recently did at the Gaydon HQ just before they departed for Switzerland — is what they say about the company's extraordinary levels of ambition and energy.

For anyone else it would be more than enough to propose a brand new Ferrari F8 Tributo rival for 2022, especially since said Vanquish progresses the genre by a generation.

However, at the same time Andy Palmer and his hyperactive team are unveiling a £1m hypercar concept called AM-RB 003 (drawing much from the seminal Valkyrie, co-created with Adrian Newey) and an eye-popping Lagonda off-roader proposal that takes SUVs in an entirely different direction from Range Rover, Bentley Bentayga and the rest.

Truly, there has never been a greater, more productive era in Aston Martin or Lagonda history. We should settle back and enjoy the ride.

Aston Martin unveils V6-powered Vanquish Vision concept

Aston Martin launches new AM-RB 003 hypercar

Steve Cropley

Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business.

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back.

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.