[racer_7]

Filippo Perini
Chief designer at Lamborghini. Could not find much about his history but who cares when this guy has made this!!

Sesto Elemento


Valentino Balboni
I know he is not a designer but I could not stop myself from posting. Have you ever heard the name of a car named after a test driver? He must be some kind of legend. Besides a RWD Lambo is actually a rarity.
Attachment 1350088

[bajica]

Originally Posted by racer_7

Filippo Perini
=========
Attachment 1350088

In one episode of Mega Factories, Mr. Balboni was interviewed along with his work...Testing car coming out from factory. What a dream job

[Gansan]

That is interesting! But it would be more interesting to know the designers of our everyday cars we drive here!

[Astraholic]

Who can forget the legendary Bruno Sacco and his famous quote,
"A Mercedes-Benz must always look like a Mercedes-Benz."

The god who created SL R129 and 190 series.

[binz]

Thank you for this thread, absolutely brilliant !

[Impala59]

I am surprised no one even mentioned Dante Giacosa (1905-1996)
This Italian mastermind was the one who designed the world's first car for the "actual" masses, the Fiat Topolino





This guy also designed these beauties:

Fiat 600:


Fiat 1100 103E:


Fiat 1100 Select/Super Select:


Fiat 128:


Fiat 1100D/1100R:



Only to name a few!

[smsrini]

Anyone have information on the designer for the Tata Safari TCIC and the facelift thereafter ?

IIRC, there used to be a design firm iAD ? which was used by Tata extensively for the Safari, and the Indica.

[sarathlal]

Masterminds behind Honda Civic 8th generation design;
Toshiyuki Okumoto (exterior design)


Yukio Emi (interior design)

[harikr]

Let me add one from the Indian Automotive Companies.
Head of Designing and Styling for Mahindra & Mahindra, Ms. Ramkripa Ananthan.



(Pic Courtesy: Economic Times)

[Gannu_1]

Who: Jozef Kabaň,
Citizen: Slovakia (erstwhile Czech Republic)
Present: Skoda Auto
Past: VW, Audi, Bugatti

He was in charge of the exterior design of the Bugatti Veyron and the current generation Octavia A7.

[swiftdiesel]

Asok George



Not sure if it'll fit in here because this guy is a truck designer and one of my favourites. What makes him special is the fact that he's Indian (from Kerala, perhaps?) but churning out some stunning designs for Volvo Trucks in Sweden. He's hugely responsible for the new face of the entire line up, i.e. FL and FM, FH Globetrotter series.





Really impressed with his styling, especially at adopting an all new consistent "family" face for Volvo and also implementing a unique signature DRL for each of them.

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by harikr

Let me add one from the Indian Automotive Companies.
Head of Designing and Styling for Mahindra & Mahindra, Ms. Ramkripa Ananthan.



(Pic Courtesy: Economic Times)

Can't imagine such a petite woman to be responsible for some monstrous designs!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by binz

Thank you for this thread, absolutely brilliant !

Your feedback is much appreciated. I wanted to create awareness on the aspect of design & people who brought about a paradigm shift to design. Glad that you liked it.

Now let me divert this thread just a little by quoting some more interesting facts. I personally think that Chris Bangle has been the most innovative designer so far. I'm talking purely in the sense of out of the box thinking which he possesses. I saw a video of his speech given to Stanford engineering students & I was impressed. What he said went far beyond design & into the much needed topics like conservation, low emissions & making a difference in a world of sameness. For example the reason why they created the BMW Gina, a car that was made out of synthetic toughened fabric was to see if the ecological footprint of a car production process can be reduced, & the Gina's ecological damage is about 1/10th of a standard car. It was also found that removing the painting process out of the production line cut the ecological damage by nearly half.


He also spoke of a car designed by a group of curious people, like a "golf" ball, i.e the panels made with dimples much like the golf ball just to see if it would have an increased aerodynamic efficiency. It did. They found out that it is 11% more efficient than the same car with a perfect surface, which would lead to a billion $ saving on consumption overall. Yes it wasn't his idea but his question was why not implement such designs if they help.


That's what he did in his automobile career, question perceptions of what looks good and what doesn't, question why must one spend over 20$ million on conception of an engine that consumes 2% less fuel when a change in design can save much more. Opposing entropy & questioning the way things are done might sound too outlandish or impractical and most times it is true. Other times we may just find the next big thing when we look beyond the obvious. Design is not just aesthetic anymore, its also the key enabler of a more frugal, forgiving tomorrow. These designs look insane but they also make us ask a key question, is it form over function or the other way around?

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Gorden Wagener
Citizen : Germany
Present : Mercedes-Benz

Attachment 1349007

As someone who has grown up the ranks quite ........... loves to dress in black & knows a thing or 2 about cars too.
Attachment 1349009
Featured above the 2015 Hyundai Sonata

Hello dark.knight,
Firstly, I owe you an apology. While going through your thread earlier - a couple of days back - I wanted to reply and by some peculiar error of the motor muscles I pressed the "quote" button on crazydriver's comment! It is there on the pages of your thread.

And now I'd like to re-iterate what I had written earlier. This is a great thread and I only wish that more of us came up with such threads, paying homage to the greats - both designers and engineers - down the years.

[petrolhead_neel]

Marcello Gandini
I wonder why his name did not come up yet on this beautiful thread. No wonder he is called an underrated designer.



Marcello Gandini is an Italian car designer who is known for his work with the automotive design group Gruppo Bertone. He was also born in 1938. He is most popularly known for the design of the legendary Lamborghini Countach. He has also designed one of the best looking cars the world has ever seen, the Lamborghini Miura.

In a 2009 interview with Robert Cumberford, Gandini said "his design interests are focused on vehicle architecture, construction, assembly, and mechanisms - not appearance."

He is also known to be a designer of some great concept cars.

His designs:
1. Alfa Romeo Montreal
2. Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo
3. Bugatti EB110
4. Citroën BX
5. Cizeta-Moroder V16T
6. De Tomaso Biguà (Qvale Mangusta)
7. De Tomaso Pantera SI
8. Ferrari Dino 308GT4
9. Fiat 132
10. Fiat X1/9
11. Iso Lele
12. Lamborghini Countach[2]
13. Lamborghini Diablo
14. Lamborghini Espada
15. Lamborghini Jarama
16. Lamborghini Miura
17. Lamborghini Urraco
18. Lancia Stratos[2]
19. Maserati Khamsin
20. Maserati Ghibli II
21. Maserati Quattroporte II (1974–1978) & IV (1994–2001)
22. Maserati Shamal
23. Renault 5 Turbo and Renault 5 Supercinq

Now attaching some of his designs:

Cizeta-Moroder V16T


Lamborghini Countach


Alfa Romeo Montreal


Bugatti EB110


And finally, the Miura. A huge thanks to BHPian mohammedismail for clicking this gem of a pic.


Cheers,
petrolhead_neel