Words: Craig Cheetham
Photos: Craig Cheetham/press photos
Great designers create great rivals – here are five pairs of cars that competed directly, but were penned by the same people…
Giovanni Michelotti: BMW 02 and Triumph Dolomite
Giovanni Michelotti was one of the most influential automotive designers of the twentieth century – you could even argue that it was him that created the compact executive sector of the car market.
After all, his impact can be seen in two of the most iconic compact sports saloons of the late sixties and early seventies: the BMW 1502/1602/2002 series (collectively known as the BMW 02 Series) and the Triumph Dolomite.
Michelotti began working with BMW in the early 1960s, playing a pivotal role in shaping the 02 Series’ lines. The car’s compact proportions, upright glass area, and distinctive Hofmeister kink became hallmarks of BMW’s design language thereafter.
At the same time, Michelotti was extensively involved with British manufacturer Triumph, crafting the look of the Dolomite and its predecessors, the 1300 and 1500. The body featured a smartly detailed four-headlamp front end and a C-pillar that, unsurprisingly, looked like it could have come from a BMW…
Ian Callum: Jaguar X-Type estate and Rover 75 Tourer
Best known for his role at Jaguar Land Rover, Ian Callum was working for TWR Design in the late 1990s, alongside Peter Stevens, who became MG Rover Group’s Design Director.
One of his main projects as a consultant was reporting to Rover Group’s Richard Woolley, who had led the design of the Rover 75. An estate version of the new car – designed by Callum – was put on the table as a pretty much completed protoype, but was rejected by Rover’s then owner BMW as it didn’t want it to compete with the 3 Series Touring.
Following his move to Jaguar, Callum was asked to look closely at the existing designs and modernise them. The Jaguar X-Type was the work of the late Geoff Lawson, but no estate was originally planned.
Callum led a project to change that, creating an entirely new rear end for the Jaguar that instantly became one of the most handsome compact executive estates on the market, competing directly with the BMW 3 Series Tourer and the recently introduced Rover 75 Tourer – a car that was pretty much ready to go when BMW sold Rover in 2000, and was also all his own work from the B-pillars backwards.
Frank Stephenson: MINI and Fiat 500
Frank Stephenson joined BMW in the early 1990s, reporting to the brand’s chief designer Chris Bangle. In 1995, he was tasked with reinventing the classic MINI for Rover, which was now under BMW stewardship. He led the car’s styling – sparking a renaissance for the MINI brand and influencing a wave of new retro-inspired designs throughout the automotive industry.
One of those was also his own work, and more than likely on the back of his experience with the MINI and its resultant success. The new Fiat 500 was first shown in 2004 as the Trepiuno concept, and when launched in 2007, became a runaway success, overtaking MINI sales in most European markets.
Walter da Silva: Alfa Romeo 166 and Audi A6
Walter de Silva made his name with the 1997 Alfa Romeo 156, which completely shifted perceptions of the Alfa Romeo brand and led to a complete refresh of its product line-up, with new models such as the 147 and GT, alongside a new executive car – the 1998 166.
The stunning flagship saloon reflected the brand’s heritage whilst also drawing from the 156’s styling cues, while its driver-focused cabin was unlike anything in the class.
His efforts got him noticed by VW Group, which he joined in 1999, initially in charge of SEAT, before moving to Audi in 2002. His first Audi design was the ‘C6’ generation of the A6, which competed with the 166 for the last two years of the Alfa’s production.
Paul Bracq: BMW E12 and Mercedes W115
French car designer Paul Bracq is credited with one of the most beautiful car designs of all-time – the 1963 Mercedes-Benz SL ‘Pagoda’, which set the styling tone for a number of Mercedes models to follow.
The most commercially successful of these was the W114/115 series of sturdy, large saloons, which were wonderfully over-engineered and took their stacked-headlight front end appearance directly from the Pagoda.
Introduced in 1968, they were the first of the band’s cars to achieve over a million sales, notching up almost twice that number before being replaced in 1976 by the W123.
Bracq had departed Mercedes just before the saloon cars went on sale and returned to his home country, where he designed the iconic TGV high-speed train, but returned to Germany in 1970 to work for BMW, where his first project was a new executive saloon.
The E12 was the first BMW 5 Series and it introduced the shark-nosed, twin-headlamp and kidney grille front end to the brand, competing directly against the W114/115 for four years, before going on to design the first 3 Series, the E21.
Even today, his influence is evident in cars from both brands.
Which is your winner from each of these cars from the same designer? We’d love to know your top picks in the comments below.
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