About

STEVE SAXTY

Although Saxty’s father never learned to drive, his mother was an enthusiastic driver, continuing to do so regularly until her late 90s. Steve grew up just a few miles from Ford’s R&D center in the UK, where he became captivated by the prototypes driving past each day. This fascination inspired him to pursue a career as a car designer. Ford hired him in the 1980s as a design engineer, but it didn’t take long for both him and his supervisors to realize his creative talent might be better suited for marketing than designing car components.

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Driven partly by the lure of fancier company cars, Saxty joined Mazda in the early ’90s just as the MX-5 was being launched. Soon after, he moved to Porsche, where he oversaw UK sales. He later embarked on a 15-year career in management consulting, working with car companies, including BMW in the late '90s, as the company sought to revitalize Rover.

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A few years later, he helped craft the marketing strategy for the rebirth of Rolls-Royce. In 2001, Saxty moved to New York City, but returned to the UK eight years later to take on the role of global brand communications director at Jaguar, where he oversaw advertising. Afterward, he returned to the US, working at an ad agency where he led Nissan’s global brand strategy and managed media for Volkswagen.​

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Saxty published his first book The Cars You Always Promised Yourself in 2019. He followed it with a book on the Capri and a two-volume series called Secret Fords. His insider perspective earned his books critical acclaim, and they were named Book of the Month in several classic car magazines. Three of his works have been nominated for the prestigious RAC Book of the Year award. He and his wife currently live in New York, where they navigate local traffic in the latest in a long line of BMWs.