One of our most popular writers isn’t a writer at all, but an engineer. An enormously experienced one, in fact, which probably explains why his stories for The Intercooler have been so well received. David Twohig has been in the automotive engineering business for more than 30 years, during which time he was Chief Vehicle Engineer for three very different cars, each one seminal in its own way.
Take the Nissan Qashqai. It’s not the sort of car we would ordinarily write about, but its significance cannot be denied – it not only saved Nissan in Europe (had the model not worked the way it did, you probably wouldn’t be able to buy a Nissan on these shores today), it also gave life to the booming crossover segment. The Qashqai wasn’t the first such car, but it was the first to get that winning combination of affordability and practicality, packed into an SUV-style body, just right. The Qashqai was a runaway sales success.
Having seen one game-changing car through to production, David switched from Nissan to Renault – staying within the Alliance – to lead the development of another: the Renault Zoe EV. This was more than 15 years ago when Tesla was still just producing the odd electric Lotus spin-off. The Zoe was one of the first EVs to hit the market, doing so long before it was obvious that electric cars were the future.
To back up his petrolhead credentials (with a Peugeot 106 Rallye and a Porsche 911 SC at home those cannot be in question), David then took charge of the engineering team responsible for the Alpine A110, one of the great modern driver’s cars.
Between the Qashqai, Zoe and A110, David’s professional background could hardly be more diverse. They have taught him about mass-market cars, EVs and purpose-built sports cars. It’s hard-won knowledge he shares with Ti subscribers through his wonderfully insightful writing, whether he’s rhapsodising about stamping presses (as he does in the story we published today) or explaining how the disc brake or starter motor came to be in his Breakthrough series. David writes stuff no car journalist ever could, because none has his background in engineering. We’re just very fortunate that he happens to be a brilliant writer as well.
Ti subscribers can read every piece he’s ever written for us here. Not yet signed up? Remember you can subscribe today and receive unlimited access to every story we’ve published in the two years since we launched – and you can start with a one-month free trial before giving us a single penny.
You can find out much more about David Twohig from the man himself by listening to a recent episode of The Intercooler podcast. Just search ‘The Intercooler’ wherever you get your podcasts and look for episode 156.
