German Car Zone

Brendan Moore · 05-26-2007, 12:59 AM

Reprinted from Autosavant -
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Fiat Announces Lorenzo Ramaciotti as New Design Chief

By Brendan Moore

05.26.2007

In what has to be considered very good news, Fiat has announced the appointment of Pininfarina veteran Lorenzo Ramaciotti to the position of Styling Head, effective June 1, 2007, reporting directly to Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group.

Ramaciotti, 59, recently retired from his position as Head of Design at Pininfarina after 32 years at the famous Italian design firm. In the 17 years he headed Pininfarina styling, he spearheaded over 125 design projects for Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean carmakers. He also developed approximately 20 concept cars for Pininfarina, many which garnered international acclaim when shown, and not incidentally, he developed the current Maserati Quattroporte, as well as some of the wonderful and stunning recent Ferrari models: the 550 Maranello, the 360 Modena, the Ferrari Enzo, and the current Ferrari F430 and 612 Scaglietti.

The heads of Fiat’s three styling centers (Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands) will report to Ramaciotti, who also will take on individual styling responsibility for the Maserati sports cars. Ramaciotti says he intends to gather young talented designers around him at Fiat Group in a bid to change the company’s styling in the near future to reflect a bolder and more dramatic design brief.

Fiat is pushing hard to improve sales from 2.1 million vehicles in 2006 to 3.5 million units worldwide in 2010. To put this in starker contrast, this ambitious goal comes after a near-death experience in recent years in which Fiat seriously flirted with bankruptcy. Fiat will be relying on Ramaciotti’s keen design sense to help them stay in the current positive direction.

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Centurion · 05-26-2007, 04:41 AM

Good news. Although the Fiat Punt has a nice looking front, fiat needs a sedan and estate which are as sexy as Alfa romeos cars.

Brendan Moore · 05-26-2007, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luwalira

Good news. Although the Fiat Punt has a nice looking front, fiat needs a sedan and estate which are as sexy as Alfa romeos cars.

Yes, I think its a great choice. I hope he moves them to a more elegant style.

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