duPont REGISTRY February 2025

This month’s cover star, the McLaren W1, is one of those automotive marvels that truly takes one’s breath away. Having just pipped Ferrari’s F80 to public launch, it must also have felt satisfying for the British marque to defeat the Prancing Horse to the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship at the tail-end of 2024. As we head into this New Year, with a transition of power in government, the political temperature is white hot. I’ll share something Jay Leno quipped recently, which amused me, about Elon Musk joining Donald Trump’s administration, noting that he’d sold so many Teslas to liberal Californians, he thinks Elon is trying to persuade conservatives that they’re cool too! But seriously, electrification is a huge topic in the automotive industry, and Jaguar’s bold all-electric range, due to start sales in 2026, can be viewed as a $1.9 billion gamble as it reinvents its brand. This traditionally right-leaning brand has undergone a massive shift, with its controversial marketing cam