Electrek has learned of a significant addition to Tesla’s design team led by Franz von Holzhausen. Last month, one of Nissan’s top lead exterior designers, Randy Rodriguez, quietly left the Japanese automaker’s design campus in San Diego to join Tesla as a ‘Senior Lead Exterior Designer’ at the electric automaker’s design studio in Hawthorne, California.
Before joining Tesla, Rodriguez spent the last 14 years moving through the ranks of Nissan’s design organization.
At the Japanese automaker, he was credited as the lead exterior designer on 4 production cars and 5 concept cars. A versatile designer, Rodriguez’s work has taken the form of a sports coupe to a pickup truck, and even an aircraft.
His most recognised work is likely the Nissan 370Z. He was credited with the original 2009 production exterior design.
Here’s the 2009 Nissan 370Z:
And now the new 2017 version:
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- NISMO, the heart and soul of Nissan performance for both the track and on the street, continues to raise the bar for straight-from-the-factory enthusiast vehicles. As the flagship of the Nissan Z® portfolio, the 2017 370Z NISMO embodies the spirit of NISMO – race-proven engineering that is attainable.
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- NISMO, the heart and soul of Nissan performance for both the track and on the street, continues to raise the bar for straight-from-the-factory enthusiast vehicles. As the flagship of the Nissan Z® portfolio, the 2017 370Z NISMO embodies the spirit of NISMO – race-proven engineering that is attainable.
While at Nissan, Rodriguez also did some freelancing and he submitted the original model of the ICON A5 amphibious aircraft, which was selected by the company.
ICON’s head of design, Klaus Tritshler, credited Rodriguez for being “instrumental” in establishing the design of the aircraft:
“Randy is an incredibly creative designer with the ability to express the excitement of the experience in the form of the vehicle. His passion for creating emotional, futuristic shapes allows him to break free from convention and create designs that meaningfully move the needle. Randy’s work for ICON Aircraft was instrumental and established the design direction for the highly successful A5. We continued to include Randy on other projects, and his humble and low-key demeanor make him a great team member.”
The company has reportedly around 2,000 orders for the A5, which is going into low volume production this year for units for training centers and volume production for customers next year:
https://youtu.be/aMMm_MczGL0
Rodriguez’s latest work might be an indication of what he will be working on at Tesla. In the past few years at Nissan, the Filipino designer focused on trucks.
He was credited with the production exterior for the 2016 Nissan Titan:
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- The 2017 TITAN half-ton builds on the foundation of design innovation established by the original Titan full-size pickup, including bed and cab features that are now industry standard, and the rugged workhorse sensibility of the new TITAN XD.
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- The 2017 TITAN half-ton builds on the foundation of design innovation established by the original Titan full-size pickup, including bed and cab features that are now industry standard, and the rugged workhorse sensibility of the new TITAN XD.
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- The 2017 TITAN half-ton builds on the foundation of design innovation established by the original Titan full-size pickup, including bed and cab features that are now industry standard, and the rugged workhorse sensibility of the new TITAN XD.
We know that Tesla has been working on its own pickup truck. Rodriguez’s experience on the Titan will likely be helpful to Tesla’s team for the new vehicle program.
He was also credited as the lead designer of the new TITAN Warrior Concept to push the design of the Titan X D variant:
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- Just as the all-new TITAN XD with its Cummins® 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel engine has bulked up the standards for customers shopping the light-duty pickup class, the TITAN Warrior Concept was created to take the production version to the extreme. The TITAN Warrior Concept builds on the recent Project Titan, a crowd-sourced customization of an original-generation Titan that sent two U.S. military veterans representing Wounded Warrior Project® on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Alaska. The new concept truck also pays homage to Nissan’s heritage of off-road racing and adventuring, which goes back to the days of Baja “Hardbody” competition pickups and Paris-Dakar Rally treks.
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- Just as the all-new TITAN XD with its Cummins® 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel engine has bulked up the standards for customers shopping the light-duty pickup class, the TITAN Warrior Concept was created to take the production version to the extreme. The TITAN Warrior Concept builds on the recent Project Titan, a crowd-sourced customization of an original-generation Titan that sent two U.S. military veterans representing Wounded Warrior Project® on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Alaska. The new concept truck also pays homage to Nissan’s heritage of off-road racing and adventuring, which goes back to the days of Baja “Hardbody” competition pickups and Paris-Dakar Rally treks.
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- Just as the all-new TITAN XD with its Cummins® 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel engine has bulked up the standards for customers shopping the light-duty pickup class, the TITAN Warrior Concept was created to take the production version to the extreme. The TITAN Warrior Concept builds on the recent Project Titan, a crowd-sourced customization of an original-generation Titan that sent two U.S. military veterans representing Wounded Warrior Project® on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Alaska. The new concept truck also pays homage to Nissan’s heritage of off-road racing and adventuring, which goes back to the days of Baja “Hardbody” competition pickups and Paris-Dakar Rally treks.
Here is Rodriguez talking about the concept:
https://youtu.be/QFE3sNT5LiQ
Finally, here are a few other concepts Rodriguez worked on before joining Tesla:
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- Actic Concept
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- Actic Concept
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- Infiniti ETHEREA Concept
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- Infiniti ETHEREA Concept
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- Infiniti ETHEREA Concept
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- LOS ANGELES (November 19, 2014) – Infiniti has entered the 11th annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge with SYNAPTIQ, a unique answer to this year’s theme of “Sensing the Future: How Will Cars Interact With Us In 2029?” Participating for the first time in the Design Challenge, Infiniti designers from its San Diego studio looked toward the future in which augmented reality, 3D hologram and wearable technologies may be a part of the everyday driving experience, creating a seamless interaction between man and machine.
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- LOS ANGELES (November 19, 2014) – Infiniti has entered the 11th annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge with SYNAPTIQ, a unique answer to this year’s theme of “Sensing the Future: How Will Cars Interact With Us In 2029?” Participating for the first time in the Design Challenge, Infiniti designers from its San Diego studio looked toward the future in which augmented reality, 3D hologram and wearable technologies may be a part of the everyday driving experience, creating a seamless interaction between man and machine.
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- LOS ANGELES (November 19, 2014) – Infiniti has entered the 11th annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge with SYNAPTIQ, a unique answer to this year’s theme of “Sensing the Future: How Will Cars Interact With Us In 2029?” Participating for the first time in the Design Challenge, Infiniti designers from its San Diego studio looked toward the future in which augmented reality, 3D hologram and wearable technologies may be a part of the everyday driving experience, creating a seamless interaction between man and machine.
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- LOS ANGELES (November 19, 2014) – Infiniti has entered the 11th annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge with SYNAPTIQ, a unique answer to this year’s theme of “Sensing the Future: How Will Cars Interact With Us In 2029?” Participating for the first time in the Design Challenge, Infiniti designers from its San Diego studio looked toward the future in which augmented reality, 3D hologram and wearable technologies may be a part of the everyday driving experience, creating a seamless interaction between man and machine.
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- LOS ANGELES (November 19, 2014) – Infiniti has entered the 11th annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge with SYNAPTIQ, a unique answer to this year’s theme of “Sensing the Future: How Will Cars Interact With Us In 2029?” Participating for the first time in the Design Challenge, Infiniti designers from its San Diego studio looked toward the future in which augmented reality, 3D hologram and wearable technologies may be a part of the everyday driving experience, creating a seamless interaction between man and machine.
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- The Infiniti EMERG-E is physical proof of Infiniti’s intention to produce a bold halo model befitting the brand’s promise of Inspired Performance, and also signals an array of exciting new technologies that the brand will adopt in its quest to build dramatic and sustainable high performance cars. EMERG-E also provides a fresh expression of Infiniti’s design language applied to a high performance, mid-ship sports car for the first time.
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- PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (Aug. 16, 2012) – The Infiniti Emerg-e Concept, the latest embodiment of Infiniti Inspired Performance, makes its North American debut this weekend during festivities surrounding the 62nd annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, one of the world’s premier celebrations of the automobile.
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- Infiniti EMERG-E, the highly advanced mid-ship sports car that provides an exciting glimpse into Infiniti’s future, is now even more exhilarating. Following the launch of the concept car at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed marks the global debut of the fully-functional version.
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