Peter Stevens, born in 1943, trained at Central St Martin’s School of Art and then the Royal College of Art. He started in the 1970s at Ford and then at Ogle Design, and began a long career as a tutor of vehicle design at the RCA, where he later became a Visiting Professor.
He spent five years as chief designer at Lotus Cars in the 1980s, developing the revised Esprit and designing the Lotus Elan (M100). He then designed the Jaguar XJR-15, and in 1990 became chief designer at McLaren Cars, where he was responsible for the McLaren F1, launched in 1993. After a spell as chief designer at Lamborghini he consulted for Prodrive, BMW, Williams and Toyota, and designed Subaru’s Impreza P1 and world-rally-winning WRC, and the 1999 Le Mans-winning BMW V12 LMR.
In 2000 he became design director at MG Rover, where his work included the MG ZR, ZS and ZT, the MG XPower SV and the 2004 facelift of the Rover 75. From 2005 he was consultant director of design for Mahindra & Mahindra in India, overseeing the XUV500, and in 2011-12 director of design at Rivian Automotive. He was Autocar’s Automotive Designer of the Year in 2002.
