Peter Barrett Davis (born 1958) is an American automotive designer. He is especially known for designing car interiors, mainly at

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 ...

and

Fiat Auto Fiat S.p.A., or ''Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino'' (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), was an Italian holding company whose original and core activities were in the automotive industry, and that was succeeded by Fiat Chrysler Automobil ...

. After finishing his education in 1981 at the

ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

Pasadena, CA Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial ...

, Davis started his career in the European branch of General Motors: at

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

in Rüsselsheim, he worked on the interiors of the Vectra A, the Omega A and the Corsa B. From 1985 until his departure end of 1989, Davis was Assistant Studio Chief for interiors at Opel. From 1990 until 1999, Davis worked for Fiat Auto in Turin, amongst others on the interiors of the 1993 Punto, Bravo/Brava,

Barchetta Barchetta () is an Italian language, Italian word commonly translated into English as "little boat". The term originally referred to a small skiff used for recreational purposes. It is also applied to some items of clothing, as well as being used ...

Seicento The Seicento (, ) is Italian history and culture during the 17th century. The Seicento saw the end of the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance movement in Italy and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque era. The word means "six hu ...

, and the 1998 Multipla. In 1993 Davis became Design Director at Centro Stile Fiat and Lancia. For the Multipla, of which he oversaw the total design and of which he was named as one of the spiritual fathers, he followed the MAYA philosophy of

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

: 'Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable'. In July 1999, Davis returned to GM in Detroit. Soon after, he became studio design director with responsibility for designs for global use, and later also for performance and prestige cars. He worked on interiors for Cadillacs, Pontiacs, Chevrolets, Buicks, Saturn, GMC, and Suzuki. During the

General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization The 2009 General Motors Chapter 11 sale of the assets of automobile manufacturer General Motors and some of its subsidiaries was implemented through Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States bankruptcy court for the Southern ...

, together with thousands more, Davis was made redundant. Among his next employers were

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses. T ...

and Bordrin. Currently, Peter Davis is Adjunct Faculty/Lecturer at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Davis specialized in car interiors because he sees them as a bigger challenge than exteriors.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Peter Barrett American automobile designers General Motors designers Opel designers 1958 births Living people