Mike Robinson (designer)

Michael Vernon Robinson (born 2 May 1956) is an American automobile designer. In January 2014 he left the position of Brand and Design Director of Bertone after its financial crises, 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, the Lancia Giubileo (Pope's personal limousine based on a stretch Thesis), 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 (in production), 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. Robinson's creative team in Bertone also designed the exterior and interior of the Frecciarossa 1000, the high-speed train for Trenitalia, built by Ansaldo Breda and Bombardier.

Background
Michael Vernon Robinson was born in Whittier, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, on May 2, 1956, to Don and Berta Robinson; his older brother is Douglas Robinson. At age 16, while studying architecture in High School in Kent, Washington, he discovered a poster of the Lancia Stratos Prototipo Zero by Bertone. He was so heavily influenced by the concept car that he decided to not only become a car designer but to emigrate to Torino, Italy where he felt the best car design in the world was taking place. He received a bachelor's degrees in both Fine Arts (1978) and in Industrial Design (1979) from the University of Washington.

"When I saw that 1970 Bertone concept car a light bulb lit up in my head because it was not only the most beautiful car I had ever seen, it also the most innovative car I had ever seen. At just 83cms tall with a cab-forward, monovolume architecture, it used the front windshield as the entry door, opening up crocodile-style, erasing all the terrible taboos tied to what was considered modern car design in America at that time. The Italians, I discovered, were light years ahead of the rest of the world in car design. So I fixed my sights on that and made it my personal mission in life. I wanted to go where the very best designers were."

Career
In 1978, Robinson spent the summer before his final year in college at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, doing a student internship.

After arriving in Italy, 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. American designer Chris Bangle, who was Exterior Design Chief at Fiat at the time, called Robinson to come to Fiat to help him reorganize the Fiat design process. Robinson began his 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 such as 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. After his time at 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 Alfa Romeo's 100 year anniversary at the Geneva Auto Show. The Pandion (which is the scientific name for Osprey) is a 2+2 sports car with reverse-opening scissors doors which are 3.4 meters tall when fully opened. The car utilizes a “Skin and Frame” concept stemming from the two-part Alfa Romeo logo, which underlines the new, dynamic mix between the organic frame and the skin that covers it. Many of the components in the car were realized using Algorithm Design technology, a random form generator which allows forms to become much more complex compared to those designed by humans. The second concept car from Robinson and Bertone was the 2011 Jaguar B99 (Bertone turned 99 years old on this year) and demonstrated the exact opposite in design directions compared to the flamboyant Pandion. The B99 was a compact luxury sedan that lead Jaguar into the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class market. In 2012, Bertone presented their centennial concept car called the Bertone Nuccio, to honor Nuccio Bertone. The Nuccio is a two seater, mid-engine sports car with a 500 hp 8-cylinder Ferrari engine. The aggressive lines are a mix between the icons of the past such as the Stratos Zero and a decidedly futuristic look. The roof without a rear window denotes the arrival of the digital era, replacing the backlight with external cameras and internal screens. The orange color on the roof is Nuccio Bertone's favorite color, widely used throughout the Bertone Design Center. Another concept car developed simultaneously that year was the Chinese concept SUV called the BAIC C51X, the sister of the BAIC Senova D50 sedan designed by Bertone and launched into production at the 2014 Beijing Auto Show. The C51X is compact, dynamic, and extremely modern, and the success it had at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show convinced BAIC top management to put it into production. In 2013, Robinson designed the Aston Martin Jet 2+2, a "one-off" prototype, ordered directly by a private British client. The car started as an Aston Martin Rapide, then was transformed into a Shooting brake, preserving the original beauty of the spectacular Rapide. The Shooting brake formula must never be confused with the common Station Wagon, since the former is a station wagon "coupe" while the latter is a "cargo" station wagon, with very different proportions. The interior was highly refined, according to the requests of the private client, adding an innovative mobile platform to make better use of the rear compartment.

In China the FAW Besturn X80 SUV was launched officially, being the first car designed by Robinson in China. Since its launch, sales have continued to grow and the car is now considered a giant success in the market.

At the end of 2013, Bertone closed after 101 years of contributions to the world of car design. The 160 employees were sent home overnight, and all client projects were cancelled. "They took the floor out from under our feet," says Robinson, "the people responsible for this should be hung from a tree."

Following the closure of Bertone, Robinson entered into partnership with David Pizzorno, founder of ED, a company with twenty years of experience in automotive engineering. A small group of former Bertone employees followed Robinson into the new company, which now has nearly 400 full-time employees. The very first concept car produced by ED Design was exhibited at the 2014 Beijing Auto Show, in less than 4 months after the opening of the new ED Design department. The prototype is called BAIC Senova D60 Aero, a "GT" version of a standard sedan, which will be launched later this year. Given the extremely short timeframe, the prototype was built in China, followed directly by Robinson himself, in order to ensure the same quality level he expects from all his projects. The car was one of the stars at the Beijing Auto Show, acclaimed by journalists and young visitors. Robinson was invited by BAIC to present the world premiere of Senova D50, a car he designed months ago while he was the Director of Design at Bertone, finally unveiled to the public for the first time.

In 2011, Robinson was inducted into the Hall of Fame of car design at the National Automobile Museum of Turin, Italy.