Starting from November 14th, Donato Coco will become Ferrari's new Chief Designer, taking over from Frank Stephenson's, who left earlier this year to become Head of the Fiat, Lancia and Light Commercial Vehicles styling centre.

51-year-old Coco's role will be to formulate and lead Ferrari's design co-ordination and strategy, and to stimulate and address the Maranello sportscar builder's partners' creativity so that, as far as car styling is concerned, Pininfarina is used as a historical point of reference.

Donato Coco was born in Italy, but he soon moved abroad. His studies in architecture in Besançon (France) and at the Automotive Design in London, led him to to embark on an international career. In 1983, Coco won a design contest and he then joined Citroen where he has since signed many ground-breaking and well-received key style projects for the French carmaker.

He became the director responsible for the design of the French firm's small and medium-sized cars (now known as A-platform). These included the unusual Pluriel concept which was presented for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1999, a show car that was quickly given the go-ahead for production, as well as the more recent C1, C2 and C3 models. Returning now to Italy with Ferrari at Maranello, Coco will join the GT team, which is led by Deputy General Manager, Amedeo Felisa.