Frank Stephenson, head of design at Fiat Frank Stephenson is head of design at Fiat. He came to the marque with a pedigree: the Mini, the BMW X5, and the Ferrari 599 GTB are already tucked neatly under his belt. And as Michael McAleer found out, that means he doesn't need to mince his words
MotorsInterview: Designer Frank Stephenson has gone from having one of the coolest jobs in the car industry to one of the most challenging. He's the man behind the new Mini, the guy who gave us the BMW X5 before moving to Ferrari where he worked on the F430 and 599 GTB; he even gave us the enormous aeroplane wing on the back of the Ford Sierra Cosworth in an earlier life.
Despite all this experience Stephenson has a youthful boyish demeanour that seems to belie over 36 years in the industry and gives him an honest enthusiasm when he talks about cars. His eagerness and clear interest in the car design is infectious.
For all his previous work, it was the runaway success of the Mini that caught the car world's attention. So much so he was working in Munich for BMW when one evening he got a call from a headhunter with a British accent.
"He didn't tell me who his client was, just that someone wanted to meet me for lunch. He said it would mean a flight over and back on the same day and then told me the location was Turin. I thought, oh well, it must be Fiat. I went and had lunch where we talked about design and it was not until dessert that they told me they were from Ferrari and offered me the role as head of design for Ferrari and Maserati brands. I was speechless.
"Working at Ferrari is design heaven. Costs are not an issue, you're just to make the next car the best you can. In fact the customer base is so devoted that some buy the car before you even put pen to paper."
Everyone who follows Ferrari knows that Pininfarina does the actual design for the brand. But it became Stephenson's job to direct Pininfarina and Italdesign, the studio of Giorgetto Giugiaro, in shaping the look of Ferrari and Maserati.
During his time there his hand was found on the Ferrari F430, new 599 GTB, the Grand Sport Maserati and the M12 racer. Then he was asked to move to Fiat. "I thought I'd goofed but then they explained that it was because they had faith in me and felt that Fiat desperately needed a single design direction led by one person."
When he got there the new Grande Punto was already on its way to production, but he was able to make some minor changes along the way. For Stephenson, his big day will come when the Stilo replacement, the Bravo, is unveiled at the end of the year. All signs are that it's going to be a lot sleeker and sportier than its rather chiselled predecessor. This will be no facelift but the advent of a new image for Fiat, one that's been heralded already by some of the styling cues on the Grande Punto.
Next up after that will be the long awaited 500 replacement, giving Fiat at least two cars that are set to give its image a serious makeover, largely courtesy of Stephenson. Yet just as the contestants on TV makeover shows, the stylist can only do so much. It's up to the remodelled contestant to make the most of Stephenson's work and take full advantage.
Given Fiat's recent financial predicament, it's not surprising that management has been keen to get the Stephenson age underway. "Fast forward" has been the motto of late and there have been reports that the Bravo was developed in record time during 17 months of intense work.
"Of course, Fiat doesn't have an unlimited budget and timing is super critical. It's possible to do it; people say it takes a year to do a wheel, that's total BS. All you need is a dedicated group of people, a talented team and you let them run.
"My responsibility is to move the design direction one way or another. I'm hands on; if you come up through designer ranks from sharpening pencils, then your whole life is about design."
Whatever about his time with BMW, it's his experience with Ferrari that marks him out as something of a super celebrity amongst the Italians. He's brought some lessons with him. "In car firms the craziest people are considered the designers, while engineers have to turn their scattered ideas into reality. The great thing about Ferrari was that the engineers were as crazy as the designers. Both want to push the boundaries.
"The engineering philosophy at Fiat has for too long been 'we haven't done that before so we can't do it'". The new key to future success will be to make the cars beautiful and then try to work out how to make it feasible, not the other way round. It obviously has to look like a Fiat and be economically sound to build and make a profit. But that doesn't mean it can't look stunning.
"Design really sells a product and everybody has known it. At this time you have to sell a car on love at first sight: no one is going to buy a car and hope that it grows on you. The car has to be instantly desirable. Everybody makes relatively good products at a certain level, they do what they're supposed to do.
"Now the key is to make cars have a unique personal character and you need to respect that it's not that hard if you follow the right mathematical formula which is to play up on your national identity and don't try to be something other than what you are because it's just putting on a show. Italy has such a rich history in aesthetics and it's just about returning to those.
Aside from the Bravo, the big news from Fiat is the return of the iconic 500. "When I came in, the concept car was already there so the project has really been about how can we make the 500 more desirable than the Mini. The Mini has set the bar upon which all the rest can be judged. It's the pinnacle of trendy cult cars.
"If you want to do something here you have to pull customers away from it. Perhaps its greatest weakness is the price. This is where Fiat can succeed.
"The Mini was not a retro car. The new Mini was an evolution. I sketched out what it would look like in 1969 if they'd redone it, and then 1979 and up to 1999."
Stephenson dismisses the opposition of the time. "In comparison to the Mini, the Beetle was a compromise on everything. There was nothing better about the new Beetle over the old version. The Beetle was a real retro car; design for design's sake.
"In comparison, the 500 will be classless and people have fond memories of it plus you gain a whole new youth market from its trendy looks."
On the rest of the range, Stephenson doesn't mince his words: the new Croma is a mismatch with no identity, the Multipla fails on virtually every level of basic design, like someone trying too hard. "The Mulitpla is typical of the love-hate cars of old. Fiat doesn't have time or scope to create these sort of cars. We need cars that make you fall in love the moment you set eyes on them."
One suspects that big changes are afoot across the range under Stephenson's reign. Given his track record, that can only be a good thing. What Stephenson offers is a proven ability to turn the 500 into a cult car to rival his Mini and the sporting pedigree to turn the new Bravo into a real Italian.