After just over three years at the helm, Ford’s chief design officer Anthony Lo is leaving the company
Anthony Lo is leaving his role as Ford’s chief design officer after just three years on May 14th 2024. The move has now been confirmed by Ford’s US press office and that the 59-year old veteran is on his way out at his own decision.
Lo left Renault to land Ford’s top design job in early 2021 after Moray Callum retired, but remained based in Paris, France, rather than making a permanent move to Ford’s Michigan mothership in the US. Early exciting cars launched under his tenure included the 2022 Lincoln L100 and Star concept cars and the 2021 Ford Bronco and F-150 Lightning (but also the demise of the European Fiesta and Focus models).
Last time CDN spoke to Lo at the People Awards in December 2023, he said he was commuting to Detroit more and more days per month. Maybe that distance became too much for both parties, perhaps personally and politically.
Hong Kong-born Lo was educated at the Royal College of Art in London and after graduating enjoyed a stellar career. He started at Lotus in 1987, then moved to Audi in 1990 before joining Mercedes-Benz in 1993 as chief designer for its Japanese studio. In 2000 he became head of advanced design at Saab, creating the 2005 production 9-5 and superb 2001 9-X and 2006 Aero X concepts, before concentrating his time from 2004 at Saab’s then parent company General Motors Europe.
There he imagined more mainstream products including the 2007 Opel GTC concept which led to the production 2008 Vauxhall Insignia, plus the 2007 Opel Flextreme and 2008 Opel Meriva concepts.
In early 2010, Lo joined Renault Group as VP of exterior design, and under the guidance of global design chief Laurens van den Acker was then instrumental across the next decade for the complete overhaul of the production car range. He led the design of new versions of the Clio, Captur, Scenic and Espace (following highly innovative concepts that prefaced them).
There’s no word on where Lo is going next, or indeed who will take over the top Ford creative job after him, but don’t bet against it being someone who is prepared to live and work out of Michigan, whether they are home-grown talent or imported.
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