Fail of the century #92: the Bufori Geneva

As we all know, the line between ‘swing and a miss’ and ‘glorious home run’ is agonisingly fine.

Because we’ve all been there, haven’t we? That feeling when you’ve conceived and built Malaysia’s ultimate luxury car, a three-and-a-half-metre long, two-and-a-half tonne, quarter-of-a-million-quid rival to the Rolls-Royce Ghost.

You’ve spent years, decades, getting it just so. Sweating every microscopic detail. You’ve created a revolutionary new bodyshell, sculpted from a single, giant piece of carbon fibre/Kevlar composite. You’ve jammed an extravagant 6.4-litre V8 under the bonnet.

You’ve equipped your glorious creation with every amenity a Malaysian plutocrat may require, from glittering starlight headlining to aromatherapy infusers to an onboard tea brewing machine.

And, naturally, you’ve finalised the most opulent of options list, giving your one-per-cent-of-the-one-per-cent clientele the chance to spec their Geneva with 24-carat gold detailing, or pearlescent paint containing actual, crushed mother of pearl.

Yes, you’ve done all that hard work, you’ve signed the whole thing off, you’ve unveiled your palatial creation to the world. And that’s when you realise you’ve forgotten one tiny yet crucial detail.

You’ve forgotten to not make it look like an old Morgan that’s crashed into a Bentley Mulsanne, and then somehow melted quite a lot. So close, yet so far.

We’ve all been there.