page_title: Michael Vernon Robinson
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Vernon Robinson / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Alfa Romeo Pandion concept car by Bertone at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show
context_page_description: Michael Robinson is an American automobile designer. In January 2014 he left the position of Brand and Design Director of Gruppo Bertone after its financial crises became obvious, to become the chief executive officer and design director of ED Design in Turin, Italy.
  Previously, Robinson held the position of Design Director at Fiat and Lancia, and worked as a designer with Ford in Dearborn, Volvo in Gothenborg, Sweden, Open Design, Ghia, and Fiat in Torino, Italy. Several of his more prominent styling contributions have been the Ghia TSX-4 concept car, the Fiat Bravo/Brava, the Lancia Dialogos Concept Car, the Lancia Giubileo, the Lancia Thesis, the Lancia Nea Concept Car, the Lancia Ypsilon, the Fiat Ducato, the Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept Car, and the Bertone Jaguar B99 – B99 GT concept cars, the Bertone Nuccio concept car, the SUV BAIC C51X concept, the Aston Martin Jet 2 +2 One-off prototype, FAW Besturn X80 SUV, BAIC Senova D50 sedan production, and BAIC Senova D60 Aero concept car. In addition, Robinson designed the Project Zero for AgustaWestland, which has made the first test flight in 2011, presented to the public in 2013 at the Le Bourget Air Show.
context_section_description: In 1978, Robinson spent the summer before his final year in college at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, doing a student internship. The 150 professional designers working there were some of the most talented people he had ever met, but were forced to design the most horrible cars. Designers in Detroit in the 70's suffered heavily from the 1973 oil crisis which transformed the powerful, American muscle car era of the 60's into the absolute worst periods in the 100 years of car design history. With his heart set on the creative freedom of the Italian coachbuilder world, Robinson returned to college in Seattle heavily disillusioned and vowed to never work in America again as a car designer.
  A year later, after graduation, he set out to visit every single automobile manufacturer in Europe, with the goal of comparing German, French, British, even Swedish design to his beloved Italian design. Thanks to the Frankfurt Auto Show, Robinson was able to obtain the business cards of every design director in every company across Europe. Each visit was a fascinating experience, especially after spending time in Ford in Dearborn. There were no American designers working in Europe at the time so everyone was curious to know more about why he was the only one travelling around looking for a job.
  When he finally arrived in Italy, he found his dream come true, visiting coachbuilders like Bertone, Pininfarina, and Italdesign, and manufacturers like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati. He accepted a job as a designer at a tiny design studio called Open Design run by Aldo Sessano, designing cars, trucks, buses, and industrial design projects. A year later he decided to open his own freelance studio, working primarily for Renault. In 1983 he moved to Ghia, Ford's Italian design center, where he created his first concept car, the Ford Ghia Vignale TSX-4, a forerunner for the Ford Taurus station wagon design.
  An American designer friend, Chris Bangle, had been working at Opel design in Germany as an interior designer and was nominated Exterior Design Chief at Fiat. He called Robinson to come to Fiat to help him reorganize the Fiat design process. Robinson began his 19-year career at Fiat working in Advanced Design, where he created the first Virtual Reality room in Europe in 1988. He was nominated Interior Design Chief in 1992 and designed the interior of the Fiat Bravo/Brava which won the European Car of the Year award in 1995. Chris Bangle became the Design Director at Fiat, Walter De Silva was the Design Director at Alfa Romeo, and in 1996, Robinson became the Design Director at Lancia at age 40. His first concept car at Lancia was the 1998 Dialogos, a research vehicle for new luxury sedans exploring new concepts which are now quite common, such as perceived quality (as opposed to manufacturing quality) and flush sedan bumpers.
  The Lancia Dialogos concept car was transformed into the 2002 Lancia Thesis production sedan. He was then nominated the Design Director at Fiat in 2001, where he designed Europe's best selling delivery van, the Fiat Ducato/Peugeot Boxer/Citroen Jumper.
  Robinson is famous for his motivational abilities he calls “People Design”, transforming his design studios into talent farms where his designers not only create beautiful cars, but also grow faster and farther in their careers. Many of his young designers in Lancia back then are now important design directors around Europe:
  Flavio Manzoni – Ferrari Design Director
  Marco Tencone – Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati Design Director
  Marco Lambri – Piaggio Design Director
  Alessandro D’Ambrosio – Volkswagen Interbrand Design Director
  Roberto Giolito – Fiat Vice President Design
  Peter Jansen – Fiat Professional (tractors and trucks) Design Director
  After his long career in Fiat, Robinson was called upon by Lilli Bertone to become the new Brand and Design Director at Bertone in 2009. His first concept car in Bertone was the 2010 Alfa Romeo Pandion which was designed to celebrate Alfas 100 year anniversary at the Geneva Auto Show. The Pandion (which is the scientific n
caption: Bertone-Alfa Romeo Pandion
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