Geoff Lawson (5 November 1944 – 24 June 1999) was a British car designer and was Design Director for

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

from 1989 until his death in June 1999. He was succeeded at Jaguar by

Ian Callum Ian Stuart Callum (born 30 July 1954) is a British car designer who has worked for Ford Motor Company, Ford, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, TWR, and Aston Martin. In 1999 he became the Director of design for Jaguar Cars, later Jaguar Land Rover, a pos ...

Background

Lawson was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, England in 1944. He studied Design at the

Leicester College of Art De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was ...

before completing a master's degree in furniture design at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. A man of diverse hobbies and interests, he was interested in American cars, guns and shooting, model making, guitar playing and guitar design, mountain biking, abstract art and sculpture.

Career

General Motors

After graduating from the RCA, he joined the British subsidiary of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

, as a designer, where he worked on various passenger cars and commercial vehicles. His work included many European and American projects and he progressed to Chief Designer level.

Jaguar

In 1984, he joined

as Director of Styling, where he arguably produced his best known and most influential work. He joined at a time when Jaguar was in financial trouble and it was losing its reputation for design and manufacturing excellence. During his 15 years at Jaguar he was responsible for shaping the entire Jaguar line up, including the 1992 XJ220

supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

, the 1995 XJ luxury saloon, the 1996 XK

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with ...

and the 1998 S-Type mid-size saloon. Before his death, he also supervised the styling of the 2001 X-Type compact saloon and the completely new aluminium-bodied 2004 XJ. Lawson played a role in the commercial revival of the company, which in the last decade, and under new owner

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, made record sales and a new-found reputation for good quality. This turnaround led to parent-company Ford and Jaguar's then chairman,

Wolfgang Reitzle Hans Wolfgang Reitzle (born 7 March 1949 in Neu-Ulm) is a German business executive. Early life and education After leaving his school in Ulm, Reitzle continued his education at the Technical University of Munich where he studied mechanical engi ...

, to set ambitious sales targets in the belief that Jaguar could become a major luxury car manufacturer in the mould of

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Legacy

He won numerous awards for his designs at Jaguar and also led a major expansion of the company’s styling resources and facilities at their Whitley Engineering Centre. In June 2000, Jaguar opened the Geoff Lawson Studio in his memory in Whitley,

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, which is responsible for producing future Jaguar concept cars. In addition, Jaguar endowed a scholarship at the RCA, The Geoff Lawson Jaguar Scholarship, in his honour to celebrate his achievements at Jaguar.

References

External links

* http://stileruvido.com/geoff-lawson-il-creatore-di-mostri/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Geoff 1944 births 1999 deaths British automobile designers Alumni of the Royal College of Art