Nissan's design department changes leadership, where will future design go?

The biggest challenge Alfonso faces after his promotion is to fill the gap left by former design director Shiro Nakamura, who took over the position of Nissan's design director in 1999. During his 20 years at Nissan, he was involved in the design of the first Murano, 370Z, GT-R, Juke, Infiniti Q50 and QX70.

Alfonso is Nissan's first non-Japanese design director, and this special identity also makes him consider the difference between his design style and Nissan's previous style. Alfonso said: "Nissan's car design fully reflects the Japanese thinking and feeling, but Nissan is not just a car company exclusively for Japanese people."

After becoming Infiniti's design director, Alfonso now oversees 700 designers worldwide, including Kei cars for the Japanese market and sedans, trucks and even large commercial vehicles for the U.S. market. It is reported that the first model designed by Alfonso after taking office will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January next year, but he refused to disclose information about the model.

Nissan currently has 30 model design projects around the world, including the body structure design of Nissan cars and the design of light commercial vehicles launched to deepen the cooperation between the Renault and Nissan alliance. But Alfonso said that the entire design process will be different from the methods used by Nissan's global studios.

At the first design conference held in Japan last month, Alfonso adopted a different way of meeting. The common tables and chairs in general meetings were removed and replaced with sofas, allowing designers to hold meetings in a relatively relaxed environment. In this regard, Alfonso said he hoped to establish a more casual cooperative relationship.

In recent years, Shiro Nakamura has also invested a lot of effort in cultivating Alfonso. Alfonso was appointed Executive Design Director of Infiniti in 2014 and was promoted to Vice President of Nissan Design Business and Global Strategy last year. Alfonso was born in Florida, and his parents are both from Cuba. He started working at Nissan's California studio after graduating from Pratt Institute in New York in 1988. When Alfonso was in charge of Infiniti, he said he wanted to bring Latin style into Nissan's design.

At last month's New York Auto Show, Alfonso unveiled the Infiniti QX80 Monograph concept, which he called a design study for the next-generation QX80 SUV.

Under Nakamura, Alfonso has also been involved in the redesign of several recent cars, including the Maxima and Murano, and the global launch of the Micra subcompact car.

After Alfonso took over Nissan's global design business, Shiro Nakamura asked him to put down his pencil and focus on managing the company's innovative capabilities, but ultimately it depended on Alfonso's own considerations.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.