Although Saxty’s father never learned to drive, his mother was enthusiastic behind the wheel, and drove regularly until she was in her late 90s. Steve grew up just a few miles from Ford’s R&D center in the UK and – having been enthralled by prototypes driving past each day – vowed to work as a car designer. Ford hired him in the 1980s as a design engineer where he, and his bosses, soon realized that his creative talent might be better spent working in marketing than drawing cars, or in his case, vehicle components.

 

A shallow desire to get fancier company cars led him to Mazda just as the MX-5 was launched in the early ’90s and, soon after, to Porsche, where he ran UK sales. He then transitioned into a 15-year career in management consulting where he worked with car companies, including BMW during the late 90s as it sought to remedy Rover, and a few years later on marketing strategy for the rebirth of Rolls-Royce. In 2001 he moved to New York City before returning to the UK eight years later to work for Jaguar as global brand communications director, overseeing advertising. He then went back to the US to work for an ad agency running Nissan’s global brand strategy and then media for Volkswagen.

 

He published his first book The Cars You Always Promised Yourself in 2019, following it up with one on the Capri and a two-volume project called Secret Fords. His books received critical acclaim because of his insider’s approach, and were awarded Book Of The Month in several classic car magazines. Two of the books received prestigious RAC Book Of The Year nominations. He and his wife still live in New York, along with the latest in a line of BMWs that they use to fend off local traffic.