Flavio Manzoni

Lancia Fulvia Coupé Concept (2003)

Flavio Manzoni (born 7 January 1965 in Nuoro, Sardinia) is an Italian architect and automobile designer of supercars and road cars, who has worked at various companies such as Ferrari, Lancia, Volkswagen, and SEAT.

Manzoni studied Architecture at University of Florence, specializing in industrial design. In 1993 he joined the Centro Stile Lancia, and three years later he was made responsible for Interior Design of the marque. He worked on various projects such as the interiors of the Lancia Dialogos and the Maserati 3200 GT. In 1999, he moved to Barcelona to become Interior Design Director at SEAT, and working in the interiors of the production cars SEAT Altea and SEAT León, and the concept cars SEAT Salsa and SEAT Tango.

In 2001 Manzoni returned to Lancia and was appointed Design Director. He took charge of the concept cars Lancia Granturismo, Lancia Granturismo Stilnovo and Lancia Fulvia Coupè Concept, great success at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003, and the production cars Lancia Ypsilon and Lancia Musa, winning the '"European Automotive Design Award" in 2003.^[1]

In 2004 he was appointed Director of Design of Fiat, Lancia and Fiat LCV, beginning work on the Fiat Grande Punto, the new Fiat 500, and the Fiat Fiorino/Qubo.

2006 saw a return to the VW group, Manzoni was appointed Director of Creative Design Volkswagen,^[2] where he designed the Volkswagen Golf Mk6 and he has defined the new vision of the Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti. Flavio Manzoni has created the concepts of the VW Up!, Space Up!, Space Up! Blue, e-Up! and the VW BlueSport roadster. Amongst the production cars, alongside Walter de Silva, he has designed the recent generation of VW cars.^[3]

LaFerrari, designed under Manzoni's direction

In January 2010 Manzoni was appointed Senior Vice President of Design at Ferrari, with the task of reworking the identity for the Italian brand.^[4] As design director, he has been leading the style center team to develop the concept of the Ferrari FF and LaFerrari,^[5] then he presented at Paris Motor Show the roadster Ferrari SA Aperta, and the F12 Berlinetta at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012. In 2011 Flavio Manzoni has been included in Hall of Fame of car design at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy.^[6]

In May 2014 he received the Compasso d'Oro, the oldest and most recognized award in the industrial design field, for the design of F12berlinetta. In December 2014 on Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, the FXXK was presented as the most powerful Ferrari ever. Although partially based on the very first hybrid car produced in Maranello, LaFerrari, the FXXK is in fact a completely new car.

In March 2015 under his direction of the Ferrari Style Centre three Ferraris won the Red Dot Award, the prestigious international design competition, for the FXX K, the California T and LaFerrari

In 2016 he won the Red Dot "Best of the Best" award for Product Design^[7] for the Ferrari 488.

References