The Avus, named for the 1930s grand-prix racetrack in Berlin evoked the design of the German speed-record cars and gran turismo roadsters of the 1930s.

This was first shown at the 1994 North American International Auto Show, and the positive response led to the car entering production as the Volkswagen New Beetle.

[2] In 1995, Mays became vice president of Design Development for SHR Perceptual Management, a consultancy that worked for numerous automotive companies, including Ford.

He was responsible for a number of concept car designs, including the Ford Fairlane, Shelby GR-1, 021C and "427", Jaguar F-Type and Volvo SCC.

Having originally helped during the production of Cars, he had gone on to continue involvement with several other movies, including designing the robot for Big Hero 6 and the vehicles in Zootopia.

[9] Beginning from September 2015, J Mays started contributing to the Royal College of Art's prestigious Vehicle Design programme as a visiting professor.