Sections: In the Press, R56 Oct 15th, 2004 
Automobile magazine's design guru Robert Cumberford does a great job profiling Frank Stephenson, new MINI designer and current head of Ferrari Maserati design in the latest issue. Here's an excerpt:
“One can understand why the MINI project so appealed to Ferrari management: it is a completely modern interpretation of the '50s design, instantly recognizable. Pininfarina will continue to produce classic Ferraris, identifiable at a glance. Multiple designers, including Pininfarina, will continue to produce concepts for Maserati, as has been the case since the company started making road cars. Stephenson's job is to make sure that both marques are true to their heritages, that they remain emotional and sensual and Italian…”
I think it's easier for the general public to dismiss a designer's creation rather than study it, understand it, and eventually learn to enjoy it. Yet Frank Stephenson made that last bit pretty easy with his design of the MINI. I think he's done the same with the Maserati MC12 and the Ferrari F430.
However, as deserving as Frank is for such an opportunity, I can't help but wish he was back at BMW heading the next generation MINI project due out in just a few years. And I think the obvious thought of most MINI enthusiasts out there is, how did BMW lose this guy and how will the new MINI's design evolve without its creator? Apparently Frank has also sensed this feeling among the MINI faithful. In a recent email to me he commented, “I only hope that the MINI continues its success, making people feel just that little bit happier when they come into contact with it! BMW has a great team behind it and I'm sure they will work hard to improve on it in every way.”
As good as Frank Stephenson is, no man is an island. This comment is not meant to take anything from Mr. Stephenson, rather, to acknowledge a team effort. I would like to think that we, the faithful, will have something to say along the way.
I hope you're right Michael but look at the “Bangled” BMW's for precedence. One man CAN screw up a good thing.
Frank Stephenson's MINI is without a doubt a high point in recent small car design, and he very much deserves the kudos. Art and Mechanical Design do not always make good playmates, but his sense of what's required to meld the two has produced an elegant and pure piece of Modern Motor Art. The original Mini was shown on a few Museum floors, and the new MINI wouldn't be out of place in those venues, either, IMNSHO.
As for the Lone Island School Of Design, Frank Stephenson is in fine company! Remember, a team was very much involved in the original Mini design project, but if you look at Issigonis' original tablecloth concept sketches, you can see his vision was enforced to a high degree on the finished product. Very few great designs are commitee projects anyway - they are mostly the singular vision of one powerfully influential individual.
Sir William Lyons was famous for his input on every aspect of Jaguars, even to tweeking an almost finished styling to fit his concept of a “right” look. Bruno Sacco's tenure at Daimler-Benz produced instantly recognizable products of one man's vision, and most of the famous Italian Carrozerias reflected quite sharply their individualist Padrone's sometimes….eclectic, let's say, concetti.
Sadly, no design proccess is without it's low points. Pity the poor Frenchman who hallucinated the Ami 8, or the obvious hodgepodge of the (quick, shield your eyes!) Pontiac Aztek, two cars which will always have first place in the Butt-Ugly Hall Of Shame.
Frank Stephenson had the right stuff, and the courage of his convictions, to walk that fine line between selling just an anonymous “product”, or giving in to an excessive, un-saleable eyesore, and managed to create someting that will be recognized for ever after as a hallmark of its kind. Issigonis and Da Vinci have passed the torch, and Stephenson has made a fast start on his hopefully long run of creating beautiful objects of desire that are eminently satisfying motor cars, as well.
BCNU,
Rob in Dago
Wow, Rob, did you have that in a text file somewhere waiting to post? Nice comment. Although I must take issue with having me actually wonder what an Ami 8 looks like, and now feel the need to pour bleach in my eyes.
But I do wish Stephenson was back still designing the MINI, if anything, due to the changes in the '05 version. (Let's not re-hash that topic, you can only beat a dead horse so much.) And wow, that F430 is quite a, dare I say, sexy looking car.
Sorry, Erik, 'bout the Ami 8 infliction, but what does not kill you only makes you stronger. Bleach is a poor unguent for sore sclerotics, however - I recommend a few hours with Ludvigsen's Ferrari books, or watch “Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!” on DVD. That'll straighten ya out sharpish. Lookin' at some of the abominations that are intended for a stupified buying public does tend to make me puke, on occasion, but I make a point of remembering how gawd-awful they are, so when I look at Brooksie, I'm suffused with joy, which is, of course, Stephenson's intention. ;-) See, still on topic AND offering solace for those afflicted with Ami-visions. Mind how you go, now -
BCNU,
Rob in Dago
Alec Issigonis himself taught very little about car styling. Battista Pininfarina truly admired the lines of the classic Mini and once asked Issignois that if he was an “stylist”. Issigonis of course was quite offended by the compliments and he quickly replied: “I am an engineer”.
Issignonis was quite a remarkable auto engineer that could truly think outside of the box. He had some radical ideas. For example he believed that interior ammeneties such as comfortable seats and radios would distract the driver from its duty of 'driving'. He never wore seatbelts because he claimed that “It is much easier to drive without having an accident.”
On a 1979 Autocar interview, Issigonis predicted the demise of the “Barbaric gearstick” in favor of not just automatic but “gearless” transmission Minis. Little did he know back then that the 2002 successor of his 1959-2000 vintage Mini would offer a gearless CVT transmission.
Very radical guy, but indeed he was a genius way ahead of his time. He hated it all things “Big” (He disliked the majority of American cars of the time calling them a total waste of metal) and had a fond dislike for mathematics which he called the “Enemy of every truly creative man”.
Frank Stephenson is the equivalent of Alec Issigonis but in terms of brilliant auto designers. Remember that Stephenson is not an automotive engineer in the same level as Issigonis was.
Frank Stephenson is what BMW/MINI needs right now. Bangle is a disaster and will eventually drive BMW to the ground with its controversial and Pontiacesque designs (Ironically some new Pontiac designs like the G6 sedan and Solstice and looking much better than most of Bangle's recent design efforts…. The tables have turned) that are doing nothing but destroying the brand.
Just imagine the kind of cars designed and produced if Stephenson were at the helm of BMW.
Can't wait for Bangle to either retire, get fired or resign in the near future.
Frank - You had me until that third to last paragraph :)
Seriously though great insight!
Other than the new MINI, Frank had his name again this time the new Ferrari Modena , the F430. This was featured at
Car Magazine. The F430 makes the current Modena dated.
I “still” wish Frank will be the one to design the next New MINI.
Good lord!
http://www.ami8.com/
Some people LIKE that thing!
And counnt me with those who feel that current BMW designs have lost the plot… but think about it folks if you were a briliant young designer what would you rather be working on… regardless of what the pay is?
That may be true… but he is the final say on Ferrari's designs at this point. That would make his opinions of paramount importance within the process.
He's also the one that has to take final responsibility for the work.
Gianni, Gabe is right.
Read the article of the latest issue of Car magazine.
Do any of you pundits know what else Stephenson has designed?
I didn't think the AMI/8 was that bad, just Frence. Duex Chevaux & Mehari (2CV) are the coolest.
I'll leave the Bangle stuff for others.
…RB
The loss of Frank Stephenson is similar to Steve Jobs leaving Apple, or Polaroid without Edwin Land. These single-minded visionaries are of immeasurable importance to a company and its customers. A curious feature is that upper management often don't realize this.
Maybe, like Jobs returning to Apple, BMW will be able to get Frank back!
Guys,
Actually I’m doin’ a stage at Ferrari in Maranello. I can assure you that Pininfarina designed F430 with the collaboration of Mr. Stevenson. I saw him interviewed by “Life in the fast lane” for it!
I will be soon owner of a dark silver Cooper S convertible, can’t wait for it…
What! We speak of automotive abominations and nobody mentions AMC Gremlins or Pacers ? If the guys that designed those where allowed to live then Bangle will have nothing to worry about. With the exception of the Z8 I don’t think BMW has produced a truly beautiful car in years, anyway.
Just my tuppence.
Ask Frank this!…..
After browsing the web, there seems tobe a link between the Mini and the VWBeetle……I know this for a fact and if anyone can tell me the link between the above and the AudiTT and the BMWx5 then you have the link to me…..
If Frank Stephenson, Freeman Thomas and Adrian Van Hooydonk are looking in then this may interest them,,,,,,If anyone could also link the above to a mixed-race American, around New York way with the name of Andrew, slightly camp, in the fashion design field…..I would love to hear what his surname is…….I’ll reveil all after I hear his name!
Frank is back in action at Fiat. The new Fiat 500 is his new baby as well as the remodelled Stylo to launched later this year. Watch this space!
Frank Stephenson is a genius
I don’t rate the MINI makeover as a brilliant design, it is always easy to create a contemporary update of a classic design, all one has to do is not to mess up. The MINI owes it’s success to one of the best product planning exercises done, including a design that.. didn’t screw things up.
The 7 series BMW on the other hand is a masterpiece! The reason why the design is so upsetting to most people is the break away from BMW’s very conservative linear design evolution that had reached a dead end anyway. The 7 also finally had enough presence to take on the S-Class. I personally think that the Bangle butt is one of the fine features of the 7 series and so do many newer luxury car makers that have copied it in their own way.
Unfortunately, the new design language works when it is unadulterated and the BMW board’s cold feet are spoiling the show. The face-lifted 7 series, the 5 and 3 series do not come out as successfully as the 7.
The Mini is fine, the Ferrari F430 is okay. I have yet to see something from Frank that will put him in the league of great designers.
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