Ralph R. Debbas (born 1987) is a Lebanese automotive

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, designer, and businessman. He is best known as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

W Motors W Motors is an Emirati sports car company founded in Lebanon in 2012, being the first developer of high-performance luxury sports cars in the Middle East. Based in Dubai, the company's activities include automotive design, research and development ...

, which he founded in 2012, and the designer of the

Lykan HyperSport The Lykan HyperSport is a Lebanese limited-production sports car manufactured by W Motors, a United Arab Emirates-based company, founded in 2012 in Lebanon with the collaboration of Lebanese and Italian engineers. It is the first sports car to ...

Early life and education

Debbas was born in Lebanon in 1987 to a family of industrialists. Debbas studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and began to study graphic design at the

Lebanese American University The Lebanese American University (LAU) ( ar, الجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية) is a secular and private American university located in Lebanon. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New Y ...

. He quit his graphic design course to study automotive design, which he studied with

honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

Coventry University , mottoeng = By Art and Industry , established = , type = Public , endowment = £28 million (2015) , budget = £787.5 million , chancellor = Margaret Casely-Hayford , vice_chancellor = John Latham , students = () , undergr ...

after turning down an offer from the Pratt Institute in the USA.

Career in the automotive industry

Before starting development of

, Debbas worked as a designer for

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

and Aston Martin. In 2009, Debbas launched Wolf Design and Innovation Group (WDI Group), of which he was listed as Executive Head of Design. WDI Group worked on a variety of projects including boats, furniture and interior design, consumer goods, and graphic/web design, and was active in Beirut and Paris. Lykan HyperSport

He began development of

and design of the Lykan in 2006, and in 2008 had several design projects sponsored by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. W Motors was officially founded in 2012 with the launch of the

. It is the first Middle Eastern car manufacturer, making Debbas the first automotive executive in the Middle East. According to Debbas, the

was deliberately extravagant because: He contributed to the design of the

ICONIQ Lee Ayumi (born August 25, 1984), professionally known as Ayumi (previously Ahyoomee) in South Korea and Yumi Itō (previously ICONIQ) in Japan, is a Japanese-born South Korean singer, actress and entertainer based in Japan and South Korea. Sh ...

Model 7. The Fenyr SuperSport followed with production beginning in 2018, but was not designed by Debbas. Debbas launched the W Motors consultancy division in 2019, which now makes up 70% of the company's business. As of 2020, he owns shares and is a director of W Motors Automotive Group Holding Limited. He continues as the CEO and chairman of W Motors S.A.L.

Views on the automotive industry

Debbas has often spoken on the future of the transportation industry, particularly the impact of automation and electrification on vehicle ownership and manufacture. Debbas believes that electrification of cars will become widespread and that as the development of self-driving technology advances, traditional car ownership will decline to the point were road transport is provided in a manner he compares to airlines: the role and importance of manufacturers will decline, and cars will be owned by providers. Because of this, he predicts his son Karl (born 2016) will never need to or may be unable to own a car or hold a

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

. He has stated that the Middle East has great potential for a local automotive industry, but lack of relevant knowledge in the region is a limiting factor.

Awards

Debbas has been the recipient of several business and design awards during his career.

Personal life

Debbas has an extensive personal collection of cars produced in the 1990s.

References

External links

W Motors official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debbas, Ralph 1987 births Chief executives in the automobile industry Lebanese chairpersons of corporations Lebanese business executives Lebanese chief executives Emirati people of Lebanese descent Alumni of Coventry School of Art and Design Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Missing middle or first names Lebanese company founders Founders of automobile manufacturers