In the latest James Bond movie, which passes for the National soul – though I think Roald Dahl was closer to nailing it – a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado wins a fight with a Land Rover Defender in Norway. Or rather two Land Rover Defenders. Out they bounce from forest to stream and back to forest. Kiss-kiss, bang-bang, snort, rattle. I long to know what conversations marketing executives have with the Bond franchise. Do you pay to have your car win a fight with a commercial rival? And, if your car doesn’t win, can at least it be beaten by a minimum of two cars, and one of them not a Kia? And, do they get it in writing?
At the end of the car fight, the minor villain ends up crushed by his own Land Rover Defender. From COP with love, you might say. Bond may be on his way to not hating women – may be on his way to actually being a woman – but he still loves petrol.
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