Gilles Vidal: a bold vision to reinvent Stellantis and Citroën design

This is a major shift in the global automotive design landscape. After a five-year hiatus leading Renault's style, Gilles Vidal makes a significant return to the Stellantis group. Taking over from the emblematic Jean-Pierre Ploué, who has retired, Vidal is now tasked with overseeing the design of all the group's European brands. For the French designer, this is essentially a homecoming to a company he knows intimately, having spent 25 years there, notably with Citroën and Peugeot.

Following a strategic tour of the Italian brands in Turin and ahead of a visit to Opel in Germany, the new Head of Design for Europe gave his first interview at the ADN center in Vélizy. The challenge is immense: to harmonize and propel the style of eight historic brands—including Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, DS Automobiles, and Citroën—into a new era. Far from resting on past achievements, Gilles Vidal has outlined the initial direction of his governance, focusing on unbridled creativity and boldness, with the clear ambition of birthing tomorrow's icons.

Creating Iicons: boldness and personality against standardization

In a globalized automotive market where technical quality has become standardized, distinction through style is the ultimate weapon. Gilles Vidal is categorical: for a brand to survive and thrive, it must justify its existence with a unique proposition. The goal assigned to Stellantis design teams is clear: to conceive cars with strong personalities capable of breaking the norm and "defining their time." It is no longer just about making beautiful cars, but aiming for the extraordinary—for "emergence."

This quest for icons will not rely on the easy path of neo-retro or "retro-futurism." Gilles Vidal desires pure creativity that dares to shake up established codes. He encourages his designers to push boundaries, even if it means "scaring half the Executive Committee" during internal presentations. According to him, a consensual design that immediately reassures is not the right path in the current context. However, this boldness must be controlled. The goal is not to propose strange or "bizarre" vehicles, but original objects that make sense and remain visually pleasing.

The approach is intended to be "super-creative but with care." Attention to detail must be omnipresent, from the overall form language to the graphics of the lights and the interior layout. It is this complex alchemy of emotion, surprise, and meticulous execution that will allow the group's brands, and particularly Citroën, to stand out from the mass market. Facing the rise of competitors flooding the market with decent but generic products, Stellantis intends to cultivate depth and longevity by shaping memorable products that create a strong emotional bond with future generations.

Agility and new methods: answering the Chinese offensive

The other major challenge mentioned by Gilles Vidal concerns timing. The automotive industry is engaged in a race against the execution speed of Chinese brands. These new players are capable of developing and launching models at a frantic pace, disrupting traditional European industry cycles. Aware of this threat, the Stellantis group is preparing a structural response to drastically shorten its development times and remain competitive.

Gilles Vidal arrives with valuable experience in this area. Having worked on recent projects like the new Twingo at his previous employer, which was designed in partnership with Chinese engineering, he masters the tools and processes that save precious time. The goal is to import this agility to Stellantis. This implies revising working methods: reducing the number of stakeholders, limiting decision chains, and eliminating ritual meetings that slow down the creative process.

The integration of artificial intelligence also plays a key role in this acceleration. Used for three years now, AI allows reducing certain engineering calculation steps from two weeks to just two hours, or turning a sketch into a 3D model in minutes. These tools, coupled with 3D printing for rapid prototyping, offer designers the possibility to explore almost infinite alternatives without wasting time. By adopting these new methods, Gilles Vidal intends to instill "freshness" into the design and allow the group to propose more novelties, faster, without ever sacrificing the final product quality.

Towards a new era of body styles for Citroën

Gilles Vidal's arrival at the head of European design marks a clear desire by Stellantis not to submit to the market, but to redefine it. Facing tough competition, particularly from Asia, the group is sharpening its weapons: strong, meticulous, original, and creative cars. For a brand like Citroën, historically recognized for its avant-gardism, this new direction opens fascinating perspectives.

Gilles Vidal has hinted at it: the era of the "all-SUV" market might be coming to an end. The search for aerodynamic efficiency and lightness brings low silhouettes back into favor. For Citroën, this could mean the advent of new types of body styles, perhaps "sexy minivans" with muscular shoulders, reinventing family codes. With this strategy combining stylistic boldness and industrial speed, Citroën holds all the cards to conceive the new icons of tomorrow, faithful to the spirit of innovation that characterizes the brand.rons.