Lancia promotes new head of design

Gianni Colonello will be extending his stay in Turin as he is promoted to head of Lancia design. 

Alongside Stellantis’ European design boss Jean-Pierre Ploué, Colonello is credited with playing a pivotal role in the revival of the Lancia brand and establishing its new design identity. 

Aside from a brief stint in Dearborn, the Italian has spent practically his entire career in his home country with stints across FCA, Maserati and for the last three and a half years at Lancia as head of interior design. 

Although a designer by trade he has a keen interest in architecture, obtaining a degree in the field from the Iuav University of Venice. On a visit to Stellantis not long ago, Colonello told Car Design News that this had a strong influence on the new Ypsilon’s design.

He has also tapped into his background – growing up in Treviso not far from Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Tomb – to inform the design of the Ypsilon. “When we looked at the heritage of Lancia design we found the cars had this architectonical approach where you really see the structure of the car,” Colonello told CDN. “I brought the Carlo Scarpa story to the project and everyone understood the radicality, eclecticism and the brutalist architecture all put together.”