[deetjohn]

Great thread. Some very notables mentions and I think we are going to witness an Italian takeover over here.

Here are three designers whose ageless classics speak for themselves.

Leonardo Fioravanti


Why? One of my most favorite cars of all time in here. Yay!


Other notable creations: He is a monster!
Ferrari 246 Dino
Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer
Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB
Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2
Ferrari 308 GTB
Ferrari Testarossa
Ferrari 288 GTO



And here is Erik Goplen


Why? He designed the other car which shares space with that F40 in my fantasy garage.

The very adorable BMW M3 CSL


To this day, the E46 3 Series remains my favorite BMW, the car that made me a fan of the company. It just so proportionate and BMW never made those kidney grilles look so good with those double barrel headlamps.

Other notable creations:
BMW Z4
Zagato Coupe
BMW X3



Gordon Murray


He made this! The very unique McLaren F1


Other notable creations
T 25/ T 27

PS: Don't like the F1 as much as the other two, but that McLaren was a very brave and timeless design.

[ratangera]

IMO, i had always found Mercs to be less sporty looking of the lot but that has changed drastically lately with new designs.
Also transformation in Hyundai's cars has been amazing and looking at new Sonata i guess
a sonata may finally sell. The company is completely detached from its previous designs and now makes handsome cars

[swiftdiesel]

Ian Callum - Head of Design, Jaguar



Scottish by birth he is hugely instrumental in turning around the fortunes for Jaguar. He became a milestone in Jaguar's design history. When the company was rehashing old designs, Ian Callum joined and ushered in a design revolution.



Starting with the sleek XK to the taut looking XF he set out to define an all new identity for the line up. It was a complete departure for Jaguar in terms of design and this infused a fresh lease of life. He made the German saloons look dull and dreary. Interestingly, his brother Moray Callum is a designer too, at Ford USA.



I love all of his designs. It's hard to hear a compliment from Jeremy Clarkson but in one of the Top Gear episodes he mentions the F Type to be the best looking sports coupe of all time. I cannot but agree!



And for a company that's never had a SUV in its portfolio, Ian has again nailed it with the CX-17!

[rajeev k]

The Beetle
It is rumored that Adolf Hitler stole the idea for the iconic Volkswagen Beetle from a Jewish engineer and had him written out of history, a historian has sensationally claimed.
The Nazi leader has always been given credit for sketching out the early concept for the Beetle, in a meeting with car designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1935.
His idea for the Volkswagen - or 'people's car' - is seen by many as one of the only worthwhile achievements of the genocidal dictator.

'Stolen': The sketch that Adolf Hitler was said to have given to Ferdinand Porsche in 1934

Popular design: Early Beetles in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate in 1938.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...an-claims.html

[rajeev k]

Girish Wagh: The whizkid who shaped Tata Nano.
He headed the design team for the Tata Nano.


Hisanori Matsushima: The Chief Designer of Ciaz.
Christened innovatively, CIAZ stands for Comfort-Intelligence-Attitude-Zeal.

[Crankpin]

Nano was completely styled in Italy by the Tata motor's Italian studio. It was not styled/ designed by any indian. Mr. Wagh must have been the project manager for the nano but definitely not the designer.
Incidentally a lot of interiors of the nano were done in house by the Tata Motors designers in Pune itself.
Also, the Zest and Bolt were styled here in Pune completely both for exteriors and Interiors

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Crankpin

Nano was completely styled in Italy by the Tata motor's Italian studio. It was not styled/ designed by any indian.

The design is credited to Girish Wagh, with input from Justin Norek of the consulting firm Trilix in Turin, Italy, under the direction of Tata’s head designer, Pierre Castinel, a Renault veteran.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/au...NANO.html?_r=0

[anshuman_v]

Great thread, thanks to all contributors!

I was hoping to see more Indian designers, as applicable: Scorpio, Tata Safari, good old Maruti (even though they might be Japanese), our trucks and others. Anyone have any ideas?

[chezhian350]

http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...-motors/18853/

Pratap Bose, the Design head for TATA Motors.

[chezhian350]

Since I am a motorcycle guy, here is my contribution of motorcycle designers.

Edgar Heinrich


Design head of BMW Motorrad, super cool designer and mega motorcycle enthusiast. He was also the design head of Bajaj Auto for 3 years and the 200ns was launched under his patronage.

Miguel galluzzi

All you need is a saddle, tank, engine, two wheels and handlebars

the creator of the original Ducati Monster, the Cagiva Raptor and responsible for the Aprilia RSV4 and the recent Moto Guzzi's
He is a great designer and humble to the core, a fact that I can vouch for as he took a course for me when I was studying as a design student.

Will add more designers soon.

[dark.knight]

What many may not know is that Ratan Tata the then chief of Tata Group was the actual person behind tweaking & approving each design aspect of the Nano. I know this from a documentary in NatGeo which I remember loosely now.

The first rough sketches of the Nano was a complete disaster with the hood being over 6 inches shorter thus literally having no storage & having only 2 doors with a proposal to use plastics as much as possible bonded with aerospace grade glue. It was at Ratan Tata's insistence that this car must look more like a car and not like a rickshaw that it was made as a proper car with 4 doors & a 6-8 inches longer hood thus making the front appear more like one, otherwise it looked like an Omni that was 2 feet shorter.

[dark.knight]

Hyundai has done it again, it seems. Another designer from VW group. Adding to the already massively impressive roster of Peter Schreyer (VWAG), Luc Donckerwolke & Sangyup Lee (both Bentley), a new addition has been made shortly before the year changes - Alexander "Sasha" Selipanov has joined Genesis from his previous job as designer in Bugatti & Lamborghini and was responsible for the exterior design of the Bugatti Chiron and part of the team that came up with the Huracan. He's the first designer of Russian origin to join Hyundai, a company that has designers from U.S, France, Germany, Belgium and home country South Korea.

Link :http://www.autocarpro.in/news-intern...designer-22909

[TheHelix0202]

Famous Lamborghini designers

Luc Donkerwolke- Reventon (Aventador’s inspiration), Gallardo (regular+S concept), Murcielago





Reventon




Gallardo S concept


Walter de Silva- VW Golf, Alfa Romeo 156, Gallardo





The Raging Bull or the Prancing Horse? I choose the former


Filippo Perini- Aventador, Huracan, Sesto Elemento









Edit- Brilliant thread. Deserves 5 stars! Wish to see it more alive.