Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos Aguilar (born in Madrid, 1968) is a Spanish car designer. He is currently appointed Design director at the Spanish carmaker

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

and

Cupra Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the miss ...

division, subsidiaries of the

VW Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercia ...

. He will rejoin

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

again in October 2020.

Background

Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

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 Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

writer and one of the major figures of literary

costumbrismo ''Costumbrismo'' (sometimes anglicized as costumbrism, with the adjectival form costumbrist) is the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life, mannerisms, and customs, primarily in the Hispanic scene, and particularly in the 19t ...

in Spain Ramón de Mesonero Romanos (1803–1882). From an early age he became interested in the world of the automobile. After finishing high school, he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to study at the ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering, after which he worked for a year in the now-defunct Associated Designers design studio, also in Barcelona. His first work experience in the automotive field was at Carrocerías Ayats in

Arbúcies Arbúcies is a village in the province of Girona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of with a population of 6481 in 2014. History Arbúcies was populated by the Iberians and later by the Romans. In t ...

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

, specialized in luxury

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. 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 The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

Career

In 1995, he joined SEAT's Design department in

Martorell Martorell () is a municipality that forms part of the Baix Llobregat Comarques of Catalonia, comarca, in Catalonia, Spain, primarily known for its medieval Pont del Diable, Devil's bridge. It lies at the confluence of the Llobregat and Anoia Rive ...

, 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 A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

, which eventually would not evolve into a series production car, made the

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

become interested in him, so in 1996 he joined the Design Center Europe that the consortium had in

Sitges Sitges (, , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Spain, renowned worldwide for its Film Festival, Carnival, and LGBT Culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is known for its beaches, nightspot ...

. During his stay at the center, he was responsible for the exterior design of several SEAT,

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

models. In 2001, he signed with

and moved to Paris, where he led several design projects of the French company, such as the Laguna Coupé, and since 2007 he served as its Advanced Design director. Between 2009 and 2011, he resided in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, where he was the Design director of

Renault Samsung Motors Renault Korea Motors ( ko, 르노코리아자동차), is a South Korean car manufacturer headquartered in Busan where its single assembly site is also located, with additional facilities at Seoul (administration), Giheung (research and develop ...

. During this period, he headed the development of the SM7 Mk2 luxury saloon. In the summer of 2011, he accepted an offer from

Walter de Silva Walter Maria de Silva (born 27 February 1951 in Lecco, Italy) is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015. Since beginning his car design career in 1972 as trainee car designer for Fiat's Style Centre. De Sil ...

to return and replace the Belgian

Luc Donckerwolke Luc Donckerwolke (born 19 June 1965) is a Belgian automotive designer, president, and chief creative officer of the Hyundai Motor Group and the Genesis automotive brand. Prior to joining the Hyundai Motor Group, he was the design director at Vo ...

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. His first work at the Martorell company was the

SEAT IBL The SEAT IBL is a concept car which was first shown at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquar ...

, a prototype presented at the

Frankfurt Motor Show The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the ''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'' (''IAA'' – International Automobile Exhibition), is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It cons ...

in 2011, a project in which he completed a design started by Donckerwolke. The IBL was intended to set the design direction onto which the new saloon of the brand replacing the

SEAT Exeo The SEAT Exeo () is a large family car and flagship model, that was built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT, subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. Previously codenamed ''Bolero'', (though not to be confused with SEAT's earlier concept car bea ...

was meant to be created. During his stay at SEAT, the

SEAT Ateca The SEAT Ateca is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) manufactured by Spanish automaker SEAT. The brand's first SUV offering, the Ateca is built on the Volkswagen Group MQB A1 platform and sits in the C-SUV segment, between the Arona and Tarr ...

, the first

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

of the Spanish brand, was designed. In July 2020, he signed again with

reporting to

Laurens van den Acker Laurens van den Acker (born 5 September 1965, Deurne, North Brabant) is a Dutch automobile designer. Biography Van den Acker studied at the Delft University of Technology, where he obtained a Master of Engineering at the Faculty of Industri ...

, EVP, Corporate Design and member of Groupe Renault’s Executive Committee.

Designs

Renault Laguna The Renault Laguna is a large family car that was manufactured and marketed by Renault for 21 years in three body styles: hatchback, coupé, and estate. The first generation Laguna was launched in 1994, the second generation was introduced in 200 ...

Coupé (2008) *

Renault Samsung SM5 The Renault Samsung SM5 is a mid-size car or large family car (D-segment in Europe) produced by the South Korean manufacturer Renault Samsung Motors, with technical assistance from Japanese automaker Nissan. Between 1998 and 2012, Renault Samsung ...

Mk3 (2010) *

Renault Samsung SM7 The Renault Samsung SM7 is an executive car or full-size car ( E-segment in Europe) that was produced by the South Korean manufacturer Renault Samsung Motors from 2004 to 2020. First generation (EX2) In October 2002, Renault Samsung Motors s ...

Mk2 (2011) *

(2011) *

SEAT León The SEAT León (), also spelled Leon in some other languages (named after the city of León, which also means "Lion" in Spanish), is a hatchback compact car built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since October 1999.ETKA The first two León ...

Mk3 (2012) *

SEAT 20V20 The SEAT 20V20 is an SUV concept car presented by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT at the March 2015 Geneva Salon International de l’Auto. The name 20V20 stands for (), referring to how the brand was seeing its future for that date. Design el ...

(2015) *

(2016) *

SEAT Ibiza The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Spa ...

Mk5 (2017) *

SEAT Arona The SEAT Arona is a subcompact crossover SUV (B-segment) manufactured by SEAT since 2017. It is the smallest crossover SUV offered by the Spanish brand. It slots in below the Ateca compact model and Tarraco seven-seater. Overview Between 2 ...

(2017) *

SEAT Tarraco The SEAT Tarraco is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Spanish automaker SEAT. It is the flagship SUV of the Spanish car maker above the SEAT Arona and the SEAT Ateca, optionally available with seven seats. It is based on the Volkswagen Gro ...

(2018) * SEAT Minimó (2019) *

Cupra Born The Cupra Born is a battery electric compact car/small family car (C-segment) marketed by SEAT through its performance-oriented Cupra marque. Initially unveiled as the SEAT el-Born concept in 2019, the production car was revealed in May 2021 as t ...

(2019) *

Cupra Formentor The Cupra Formentor is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) manufactured by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT under their Cupra performance-oriented sub-brand. Marketed as a coupé SUV, it is the first car designed specifically for the sub-brand. ...

(2019) *

Cupra Tavascan The Cupra Tavascan is an battery electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) to be produced by Volkswagen Anhui, a joint venture between Volkswagen and Chinese company JAC Motors, and sold by Cupra, a subsidiary of SEAT. The concept car was first s ...

(2019) * SEAT e-Scooter (2019) *

Mk4 (2020)

Awards

* German Design Council Automotive Brand Contest Best Concept Car of the Year 2015 (SEAT 20V20) *

Red Dot The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...

Best Product Design Quality 2017 (SEAT Ibiza) * Automotve News Europe Eurostars Design Award 2018 * Red Dot Best Product Design Quality 2018 (SEAT Arona)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesonero-Romanos, Alejandro 1968 births Living people Spanish automobile designers SEAT people Renault people Volkswagen Group designers