It’s vanishingly rare that a new car is so well-received it actually shifts perceptions of the company that created it, even before anyone has sat behind the wheel.
That’s the sort of instant impact of which car designers dream but precious few will ever achieve. Yet two of François Leboine’s recent creations have done just that, for two different firms. Which is why he’s a worthy winner of our Design Hero award.
In his current role as Fiat’s design chief, the Frenchman led the creation of the new Grande Panda hybrid, which combined knowing nods to the 1980s Panda with a fresh design infused with intricate details.
It created new possibilities for a firm overdependent on the Fiat 500, while proving affordable cars could still be stunningly stylish. “I knew we had to make a new icon,” says Leboine.
“Fiat is a great brand, but when I arrived four years ago, too much depended on the 500; that was clear for everyone, but it’s not easy to tackle. There was a question about whether all the projects should be related to the 500 [in terms of design], because that was our hero car. My answer was that we needed to create a second hero. Of course, that’s not easy to do.”
We will return to the Grande Panda, but Leboine’s story predates his arrival at Fiat’s Centro Stile in Turin. The bulk of his automotive career so far has been spent at Renault.
As the French firm’s concept car design boss, he was tasked with creating a fresh version of a classic model. But after two years of work, the project stalled in 2020 because “nobody was interested”.
Until, that is, new Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo walked into the design studio on his first day on the job, looked at Leboine’s vision of an electric Renault 5 and said ‘let’s make that’.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Did he really save small cars? I don't think either the new Renault 5 or Fiat Grande Panda can be considered small. Both are around 4m long, more than 2m wide (if you include the mirrors), so about the same size as a Mk2 Golf, but taller. And they weigh around 1.5 tonnes. That's not my definition of a small car!
I'd say that Toyota, Hyundai Kia and Dacia are the only firms showing any committment to genuinely small cars.
Yep, excellent work. Would I buy one? No. But other people will. Well done.