Top designer Gilles Vidal, who spent a long time at PSA behind the drawing boards and designed Renaults for the last five years, has returned in a sense. Gilles Vidal will become Head of Design at Stellantis.
Do you think the Renault Scenic and the Peugeot 3008 look alike, and do you also see similarities between, for example, the Rafale and Peugeot models? Then you are certainly not hallucinating. The Renaults were created under the leadership of Gilles Vidal, the designer who was Director of Design at Peugeot until mid-2020 when it was still part of Groupe PSA. His Peugeot signature is visible at Renault, but that does not seem to apply to future Renaults. Vidal has now returned in a sense to the company where he worked for about 25 years. The French designer has been appointed Head of Design by Stellantis – where PSA merged with FCA.
Gilles Vidal will start as Head of Design on October 1, but is not responsible for the design directions of all Stellantis brands. Only those of the European ones, but there are quite a few. We mention Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Abarth and Fiat. Gilles will oversee not only the design strategies of passenger cars, but also of commercial vehicles. Gilles will take the place of Jean-Pierre Ploué at Stellantis. He is leaving Stellantis.