Decalogue of Design Disruptors
10 Designers Shaping the Future of Car Design
Somewhere between soft-touch overload and the Great Touchscreen Takeover, there’s a group of car designers that quietly (and sometimes not-so-quietly) said: enough.
These ten visionaries are shaping the future of mobility. Not by clinging to nostalgia, but by distilling it. They know how to honor the past without being trapped by it. Whether they’re reviving nameplates, reshaping proportions, or stripping things down to their essence, they’re building cars that feel emotional, tactile, and genuinely fresh.
This is the Decalogue of Design Disruptors.
1. Juliana Cho – Rivian
Cho helped define the R3 and R3X, proving that compact EVs can still pack attitude. Her design language — rugged, minimal, and cleverly referential — nods to vintage off-roaders but updates them with a modern, clean-lined sensibility. It’s not nostalgia. It’s memory, sharpened.
2. Richard Kim – Canoo / BMW / Faraday
Kim has carved a bold path through the EV landscape. First at BMW, where he helped shape the futuristic i3 and i8, then at Faraday Future, and most recently at Canoo. The (sadly defunct) Canoo van? That was his vision: a lozenge-shaped pod-on-wheels that looked like nothing else on the road. Playful, practical, and unapologetically weird, it reimagined mobility from the ground up.
3. Tisha Johnson – Volvo / Polestar
At Volvo and Polestar, Johnson helped interiors evolve beyond luxury clichés. Scandinavian restraint, sustainable materials, and spatial warmth came together in cabins that feel like they were designed for life, not just the spec sheet. This is modern timelessness, or the automotive flavor of quiet luxury.
4. Hak Soo Ha – Kia
The EV3 and EV4 concepts are sharp, angular, and ready for their Brutalist design thesis defense. Ha’s work doesn’t just pull from the past. It carves a new visual language for a brand that’s clearly no longer interested in playing catch-up. It’s a strong vision of where Kia could go next, and how bold that future might look.
5. David Durand – Dacia
As Dacia’s Design Director, Durand took the idea of “essentials only” and turned it into a design manifesto. Literally. The Dacia Manifesto is raw, open-air, and completely unbothered by convention. No doors. No screens. Just the bare necessities and a whole lot of attitude. It’s not about looking backward. This is forward-thinking, low-cost design that dares to ask: what if less really is more?
6. Ryan Nagode – Ram
Nagode is holding the line on tactility. In a world of triple-wide iPad dashboards, he’s designing trucks that still feel like trucks, but with comfort and character layered in. Thoughtful and tactile, his approach is modern, but tempered with the idea that some things were already right. And that keeping them is also a form of progress.
7. Gilles Vidal – Renault
The reborn Renault 5 could’ve gone full retro. Instead, under Vidal’s guidance, it became something else entirely: a playful, confident EV that winks at its roots while carving out a new identity. The past is present, but it’s filtered through innovation.
8. Yves Béhar – MINI Urbanaut / Telo
Following the lead of Oliver Heilmer at MINI, Béhar’s collaboration on the UX and interior flexibility of the Urbanaut helped the concept feel not just futuristic, but livable. His work with Telo, a start-up reimagining the urban EV pickup, brings that same spirit of purposeful design to the real world. Compact yet capable, playful but utilitarian. Telo channels Béhar’s belief that cars should adapt to people, not the other way around.
9. Gordon Murray – GMA T.33
With the T.33, Murray gives us a greatest hits album. But every track’s been remastered. It recalls the beauty and purity of 1970s sports cars, but every line and rivet is purposeful and modern. This isn’t chasing nostalgia. It’s elevating it with precision and reverence.
10. Jowyn Wong / WAE Studio – De Tomaso P72
The P72 doesn’t whisper the past. It roars it. Designed by Jowyn Wong of WAE Studio, this De Tomaso revival channels the drama of ’60s endurance racers with impossible curves, exposed gear linkage, and a manual transmission that practically dares you to mess up a downshift. It’s not just a pretty face. It’s a declaration: the analog dream isn’t dead. Wong’s work here is all tension and elegance, a reminder that internal combustion can still inspire poetry. In a sea of software, the P72 is a sculpture with a soul.
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