This year marks 60 years of the James Bond films.
We could feature the line up of Aston Martins or BMWs Bond himself drove, but we want to do something a little different to mark the occasion.
These are seven cars we think are totally worthy of the franchise’s villians Goldfinger, Blofeld and of course Safin in last year’s No Time to Die.
With the 007 films looking to start with a clean slate – now is the perfect time to throw some ideas around.
And this is fun because the villains have always picked their cars from a much wider selection pool, be it the Rolls Royce Phantom III used by Goldfinger, the infamous flying car that Scaramanga used or the Jaguar C-X75 driven by henchman Mr Hinx in “Spectre”.
1. Jaguar F Type R
We all remember the rather excellent Jaguar advert from 2015 promoting this car with the tagline “it’s good to be bad.”
Featuring Tom Hiddleston, Sir Ben Kingsley and Mark Strong, it oozed James Bond potential and is therefore a perfect place to start this list.
As the advert points out, villains in large films have a habit of being British. Maybe it’s the accent that makes the audience love to hate the character, who knows?
While Aston Martin belongs to Bond, it seems only fair that Jaguar gets represented too.
The F Type R would be perfect for that.
Perhaps as the advert suggested, it could feature in a car chase around central London past Trafalgar Square, up the Mall towards Buckingham Palace with some Union Jack flags waving in the background.
You can’t get more Bondian than that.
2. Rolls Royce Spectre
The second obvious choice has to be the Rolls Royce Spectre.
Firstly, the name. Despite an obvious reference to the criminal organization synonymous with the 007 franchise, it also has that air of mystery and other worldliness about it.
Even the official description from Rolls Royce itself makes you think it would be a perfect fit.
“The emotions evoked by such mysterious names are of slight unease and heightened apprehension.”
If that’s not part of the description of a Bond villain during a casting call then I don’t know what is.
The Spectre will also be the first all-electric Rolls Royce.
If you played some classical music over the scene where the villain is introduced as they roll up silently in this beast of car, you’d have a definitive entrance.
This would no doubt have you secretly routing for the bad guys.
3. Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Like the Ferrari F355 from “GoldenEye”, the Lamborghini Aventador would fit nicely.
Even more so if driven by a henchman or femme fatale style character. It’s powerful and easy on the eye with a large general appeal – perfect for Bond.
You could also load up the Lambo with a few select gadgets or weapons that would surely keep 007 on his toes.
Maybe feature it in a car chase through the Italian countryside or rushing through a busy city centre.
It would be sure to keep the audience on the edge of their seat as they showed the Fast and Furious Franchise how it was done.
4. Extreme H Car
Photo Credit: Extreme E Media Centre
Extreme E recently announced that in 2024, hydrogen powered cars will race alongside Extreme E.
They will do this in the same locations, thus propelling innovation in hydrogen powered cars forwards.
What does this have to do with James Bond?
Well, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine some Silicon Valley tech mogul cornering the market on this and developing their own version.
It would fit the James Bond world as a futuristic but also plausible car.
It could provide some great action sequences too as Bond is pursued. Perhaps as he’s on his way to find the film’s secret lair hidden in an inactive volcano?
Christopher Walken’s Silicon Valley based villain Max Zorin might have survived “A View to a Kill” if he’d had one of these hydrogen powered off road cars as his getaway vehicle instead of a blimp. Rookie mistake.
5. Mercedes SLS
This particular car is on the list because, well, the gullwing doors.
The Bond villain could emerge from the car at a swanky do in true style dressed to the nines and steal the scene.
Later on in the film, they could open the door to be able to shoot at Bond mid car chase without anything getting in their way.
6. Ford Raptor
Similar to the Extreme H Car above, the Ford Raptor is perfect for any off-road chases that tackled harsh environments.
It’s a big, mean, powerful American car that was born for this role.
And whilst Bond has visited America many times, he hasn’t spent the majority of a film there since 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever”. So here we can tackle two birds with one stone and have an American car for an American adventure.
Perhaps a mission where Bond has to team up with his trusted ally, Felix Leiter that takes them all across the United States. It could end with them sitting on the tail gate of the Raptor they’ve stolen from the baddies, drinking a post mission beer.
7. Nissan Juke
While I am half joking when it comes to this suggestion, I also have a great idea for where it could fit into the film – the pre titles sequence.
This would be the perfect opportunity for the audience to see Bond come across some baddies who – among their many other crimes – have decided that their mode of transport should be the Nissan Juke. Que a car chase where Bond makes relatively easy work of these villainous characters and promptly damages and destroys all the Nissan Jukes in the process, thus saving the world in a small but important way.
While there are many more cars worthy of the Bond accolade, it’s not a bad starting point.
I’ll wait for my call from the producers.
