Breaking: Massimo Frascella leaves JLR

Car Design News can confirm reports that Massimo Frascella will be departing JLR. It is not yet clear where he will be moving to next. The news broke unexpectedly, and follows unconfirmed reports that his partner and current director of materiality at JLR, Amy Frascella, will also be leaving the company.

The information was leaked to an Indian website which quotes chief creative officer Gerry McGovern, citing that Frascella would be pursuing “new opportunities.” As such, there is no official press release from JLR just yet, but we expect the announcement to be pushed forward given the sudden leak.

He joined JLR as creative studio chief in November 2011, moving from Kia Motors in California where he worked on models like the Soul, Rio and Sportage as design manager. His early career at JLR centered mainly around exterior design, then in April 2019 he took on a broader role where he led on both interior and exterior creative teams. This would start his transition into more of a holistic design role at JLR, overseeing multiple teams and programmes.

An accomplished and well-respected designer, he leaves behind a legacy of award-winning vehicles. Frascella is a strong believer in traditional skills such as clay modelling, which he has credited as being crucial to the success of the Range Rover 5 – scooping the Car Design Review 9 production car of the year. We sat down with Frascella at the JLR studio in Gaydon following the award to chat, which you can watch here.

And in what will likely be his last interview as JLR design boss, Frascella spoke to us in December in what was a spur of the moment conversation about modern day car design. He also spoke proudly about the pressure and satisfaction of working on the all-new Defender – only the second in its history – and the award-winning Range Rover.

We understand that Frascella will be serving some kind of notice period for the time being. We will report back when we know more.