Ian Cameron (26 March 1950 – 12 July 2024) was a British car designer, most notable for his time with Rolls Royce following its purchase by BMW.

Career

Cameron was born on 26 March 1950. He graduated from 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 ...

in 1975, and started his career with

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...

. In 1981 he moved to

Iveco IVECO, an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles. The name IVECO first appeared in 1975 after a merger o ...

reaching the position of Chief Designer. He moved to BMW in 1992 as Exterior Design Studio Manager, and in 1999 he was appointed director of design at Rolls-Royce. Cameron designed the Rolls-Royce’s winged silver lady statuette to disappear into the bonnet with a loud clunk if it was vandalised. He retired in 2012 and after a period as Brand Ambassador for Rolls-Royce Heritage, he set up a design consultancy Ian Cameron Design Partners.

Significant designs

BMW 3 Series (E46) The fourth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of compact executive cars is designated under the model code E46, which was produced by the German automaker BMW from 1997 to 2006, and was the successor to the E36 3 Series which ceased producti ...

, external design *

BMW Z8 The BMW Z8 is a roadster produced by German automotive manufacturer BMW from 1998 to 2006. The Z8 was developed under the codename "E52" between 1993 and 1999, through the efforts of a design team led by Chris Bangle from 1993 to 1995. The ext ...

, external design *

Rolls Royce Phantom Rolls-Royce has used the Phantom name on full-sized luxury cars over the past century: *Rolls-Royce Phantom I, 1925–1931 *Rolls-Royce Phantom II, 1929–1936 *Rolls-Royce Phantom III, 1936–1939 *Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, 1950&ndash ...

, design team lead *

Rolls Royce Ghost The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a full-sized luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The "Ghost" nameplate, named in honour of the Silver Ghost, a car first produced in 1906, was announced in April 2009 at the Auto Shanghai show. The produ ...

, design team lead

Personal life and death

Cameron was married to Verena Kloos, formerly BMW’s

Designworks Designworks is a global creative consultancy owned by BMW and based in Santa Monica, California, United States. Designworks has two further studios, in Munich, Germany and Shanghai, China. Established independently in 1972 by Charles Pelly, it ...

studio president in California. They lived in Bavaria, Germany until his death. Cameron was murdered after being stabbed at his front door in

Herrsching am Ammersee Herrsching am Ammersee is a municipality in Upper Bavaria, Germany, on the east shore of the Ammersee, southwest of Munich. The population is around 8,000 in winter, increasing to 13,000 in summer. Situated at one terminus of the Munich S-Bahn l ...

on 12 July 2024. He was 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Ian 1950 births 2024 deaths British automobile designers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Rolls-Royce people BMW designers Murder in Bavaria