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At the end of February this year I received one of the saddest emails of my life. The subject was simply "ceasing writing" and the sender was none other than Ferdia O'Dowd. Into his seventies Ferdia was an active and fit man and his love for cars and the car industry was undimmed. He wrote for the Sunday Business Post on the subject for well over twenty years and it must have pained him to have to pass that baton to me.

In comparison to his close friends and family I only knew Ferdia a short time, but was lucky enough to share a car with him on a number of occasions. He loved driving. One launch sticks out in my mind as defining the man. We were in Portugal to drive the Nissan Leaf at the end of 2010. Ferdia was soaking up the sunshine and even went for a jog in the morning before we took the new car out. He proceeded to delight in the instant acceleration of the Leaf and spent the next hour or so picking races with the hapless locals. On that day I saw his inner boy - and it's something he never lost.

Ferdia was taken from the world by Motor Neurone Disease, a cruel fate, but thankfully a relatively swift one in his case. He died on April 19 this year.

Our condolences to his friends and loving family. May he rest in peace. We won't forget him.

It's the show that gives two fingers to any economic crisis; the ninth edition of Top Marques Monaco held at Monte Carlo's Grimaldi Forum is under way, showcasing some of the most exotic and expensive offerings the automotive world has seen.

Alongside luxury boats, limited edition watches, rare jewels and art, at Top Marques the super-rich can view and even experience the latest Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, but also the truly low volume supercar manufacturers. Think Pagani, Koenigsegg, Savage, GTA, Roding, Fisker and new Slovenian supercar builder Tushek. For those needing to upstage…

SEAT is not one of the big car brands in Ireland. Just 1,763 new SEATs found homes in Ireland in 2011 and the company's best year recently was 2007, with 3,346 cars sold. Half the problem is that its models are not sufficiently differentiated from other Volkswagen Group cars, while here in Ireland most buyers are probably just not very aware of the brand.

That's a shame, as SEAT has always tried to add a little Latin passion to the Group's proven competence. It doesn't go far enough…