Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos

Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos Aguilar (born in Madrid, 1968) is a Spanish car designer.

Background Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, born in Madrid in 1968, is the son of the engineer José Luis Mesonero-Romanos Sánchez-Pol and Sonsoles Aguilar Barbadillo. He is the youngest of seven siblings and great-great-grandson of the prose writer and one of the major figures of literary costumbrismo in Spain Ramón de Mesonero Romanos (1803–1882). From an early age he became interested in the world of the automobile. Having been offered a scholarship from the English government, he moved to London to study for a master's degree in Automotive Design at the Royal College of Art.

Career In 1995, he joined SEAT's Design department in Martorell, where his brother Carlos had been working since 1985 in a time when the company's range was in the process of modernization. His involvement in the conception of the SEAT Bolero prototype,

In 2001, he signed with Renault and moved to Paris, where he led several design projects of the French company, such as the Laguna Coupé,

In the summer of 2011, he accepted an offer from Walter de Silva to return and replace the Belgian Luc Donckerwolke as SEAT's Design director, since in August of that same year the latter would take over as head of Advanced Design of the entire VW Group consortium. The IBL was intended to set the design direction onto which the new saloon of the brand replacing the SEAT Exeo was meant to be created.

During his stay at SEAT, the SEAT Ateca, the first SUV of the Spanish brand, was designed.

In July 2020, he signed again with Renault reporting to Laurens van den Acker, EVP, Corporate Design and member of Groupe Renault's executive committee. After having been head of design for Dacia, in April 2021 he has left Renault Group to join Stellantis, where he took the position of Head of Design for Alfa Romeo.

Designs

Renault Laguna Coupé (2008) Renault Samsung SM5 Mk3 (2010) Renault Samsung SM7 Mk2 (2011) SEAT IBL (2011) SEAT León Mk3 (2012) SEAT 20V20 (2015) SEAT Ateca (2016) SEAT Ibiza Mk5 (2017) SEAT Arona (2017) SEAT Tarraco (2018) SEAT Minimó (2019) Cupra Born (2019) Cupra Formentor (2019) Cupra Tavascan (2019) SEAT e-Scooter (2019) SEAT León Mk4 (2020) Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (2023) Alfa Romeo Junior (2024)

Awards

German Design Council Automotive Brand Contest Best Concept Car of the Year 2015 (SEAT 20V20) Red Dot Best Product Design Quality 2017 (SEAT Ibiza) Automotive News Europe Eurostars Design Award 2018 Red Dot Best Product Design Quality 2018 (SEAT Arona)