Six quick questions with Paul Gover

1. What are you doing in Australia?

"This is actually my first trip to Australia. I'm here to speak to the press about the Mazda MX-Crossport which we are showing at the Melbourne Motor Show and how we have developed our recent show cars and the reasons behind them. That's the Sasso from the 2005 Frankfurt Show, the Sengku from the Tokyo Show and the Kabura from the recent Detroit Motor Show.

2. How does a Scotsman end up in charge of Mazda design at Hiroshima in Japan?

"I think the interesting thing is there are not a lot of car design jobs in Scotland, so you have to move away if you want that. I left quite early, moved to England, and then Europe and the 'States and Italy, and that global experience helped me to get the global job at Mazda. "And I think also think we Scots are also up for a good challenge."

3. So, what's the challenge at Mazda?

Personally, the first challenge was moving and living Japan. My first day at Mazda was my first day in Japan. And I have to say that it's been a pleasant challenge. Although I don't see myself in this job at Mazda for the next 10 years.

"I think the design challenge at Mazda is keeping the momentum going. We have good momentum and good cars at the moment, and so you have to make sure you don't let your ego or your rivals overtake you.

4. You have done a lot of show cars recently. How many are real?

"All show cars vary in their real-ness. The MX-Crossport is a good example of a show car done with the intent to be real and you see that now in the production CX-7.

"You make that decision before you do a concept, whether you will see in one year, or two year or five years. I think there are lot of intentions, but the further out you go the less and less they are real.

"Mazda tends to be a little more frugal with their show cars, so we have to spend out money wisely. So we do show cars for good reason. They might not be a real future vehicle but we use them to ask questions and look for trends.

5. What about the MX-Crosssport?

"This was really done as a test. We knew we needed to get into the crossover market.

"We wanted to see what we could do and what we could get into production.

"You can recognise the show car in about 60-70 pe rcent in the CX-7."

6. Your brother Ian says he has his dream job as the head of design at Jaguar Cars. What about you?

"I have a dream job, I think. I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid, actually.

"I think my current job is one of my dreams without a doubt, but I think maybe I have expectations of living in other places.

"I don't think I've stopped moving, geographically for sure, but this is a peak of my career and a dream in a way that has been fulfilled."