Frank Stephenson is stepping down as Head of Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, his most recent position during a varied tenure within the Fiat Group; he will be replaced by 40-year-old Austrian Christopher Reitz.

Frank Stephenson is stepping down as Head of Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, his most recent position during a varied tenure within the Fiat Group; he will be replaced by 40-year-old Austrian Christopher Reitz.

Stephenson arrived at Alfa Romeo last year after trawling his way through the Fiat Group’s portfolio of automotive brands. Before arriving at the Italian carmaker he had already cemented his reputation as one of the world’s leading automobile designers, styling BMW’s highly successful reborn Mini project, as well as the large off road X5, during his time with the German firm.

His debut within the Fiat group came when he was hired by the Ferrari division as the Head of the Ferrari-Maserati design department, a brief which saw him working in conjunction with Pininfarina. While at Maranello Stephenson is credited with leading the teams that shaped ground-breaking sports models such as the fearsome Ferrari Enzo, the stylish and super-luxurious Maserati Quattroporte, which put the Trident brand firmly back on the map, as well as its extreme-looking MC12 sports car. He also penned the rakish, aerodynamic racing lines of the Ferrari FXX, a pure track version of the Enzo.

Stephenson was then transferred to the Fiat Group Automobiles unit where he took over responsibility for the design of Fiat, Fiat Professional and Lancia brands, the studios based in Turin. During his time there the department turned out several well-received designs including the C-segment Fiat Bravo hatchback, a project realised in a new record time, and for Lancia, the facelifted Ypsilon, as well as the Delta HPE Concept Car which evolved into the soon-to-be-in-production Delta. And of course the Car of the Year award winning Fiat 500 was completed under his stewardship, and which has gone on to reshape the firm’s profile and fortunes.

Since joining the Alfa Romeo brand and taking over the helm of the historic design department at Arese, the 49-year-old has immediately made his presence felt, influencing the finish of the new Mi.To hatchback, which was officially announced last month. At the same time he has pressed ahead with developing the Alfa 149 project, the all-important C-segment successor to the long-running Alfa 147 hatchback, and which is due out next year; pushed on with plans for the X-over; and laid out the groundwork for the Alfa 169, the brand’s next large, luxury saloon. Stephenson has also overseen bringing the Alfa 8C Spider project from concept-to-production, with the 4.7-litre V8 sports car being successfully launched last month in Geneva.

Recent rumours have suggested that Stephenson could be on his way out of the Fiat Group, speculation driven on after Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne lured out of retirement last May the former Pininfarina Design Director Lorenzo Ramaciotti to head up the Group’s diverse styling departments, an all encompassing brief that sees him reporting back directly to the Marchionne.

According to an article in AutoWeek Stephenson is leaving Alfa Romeo of his own choice: "I have a few things I am looking at now, but I don't want to go into them, but it's something that I have instigated," the publication reported him as saying this week. He also told them that Ramaciotti’s appointment wasn’t an influence on his decision: "There are no problems with Lorenzo. He is a fun guy to work with, and we worked very well together," Stephenson said.