LEVC adds CMF design chief
Former Tata CMF designer takes new senior role at LEVC
London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) has tapped the services of Tata’s lead colour and trim designer as its new chief of CMF. Stephen Stanforth joins after nearly five years with the Indian brand, based out of its Coventry studio.
The LEVC studio, also in Coventry, has been led by Brett Boydell since July 2023, a designer that spent more than two decades with Bentley’s design department in both interior and broader design roles.
“I feel privileged to be a part of the stellar team that Brett Boydell and the wider LEVC team are building in the UK,” Stanforth told Car Design News. ”It’s exciting to be a part of a new path designed to invigorate the LEVC brand, which is such a wonderful British icon. I’m looking forward to contributing my best to this journey and making a positive impact on the brand’s future.”
A graduate of Coventry University’s Transportation Design course, Stanforth had begun his career in design earlier through work experience at Bentley in 2006 (and again in 2007) before an internship at Toyota’s ED2 studio near Nice, France. After graduating, he joined Opel in Frankfurt as a colour and trim designer before stints at Jaguar, Bentley and Geely and eventually Tata back in Coventry.
The London ‘black cab’ is an exterior design icon, but in practice it is very much an interiors-driven project – these are commercial vehicles that account for about 300,000 journeys each day in the city, shuttling up to six passengers (since the LEVC revamp) at a time in comfort and safety. CMF plays a pivotal and growing role in that.
At the same time, the company is expanding into new areas with its new eight-seater MPV, the L380, which will be based on Geely’s Space Oriented Architecture (SOA). The people carrier is expected to launch first in China in 2024 (likely under the XE08 nameplate) with other markets to follow. Watch this space for more to come on the LEVC studio.
