Frank Stephenson

Frank Stephenson
Frank Stephenson (right) at the McLaren MP4-12C Launch for Lake Forest Sports Cars
Born	3 October 1959 Casablanca, Morocco
Nationality	American
Citizenship	British
Alma mater	Art Center College of Design
Occupation	Automobile Designer
Known for	design work at Mini, Fiat, Ferrari and McLaren

Frank Stephenson (born 3 October 1959) is a British-American automobile designer widely known for his design work at Mini, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and McLaren.

In 2008, Autoblog called him "one of most influential automotive designers of our time".

Stephenson was born in Casablanca, Morocco (3 October 1959) to an American father and a Spanish mother, but currently holds a US and UK citizenship. Due to his father's job the family moved to a few different countries. They emigrated to Málaga, Spain where they lived for a short time while his father opened a car dealership. Between 1970 and 1977 he lived in Istanbul, Turkey and then moved to Madrid where he finished high school.. After high school, Stephenson spent six years competing professionally in . Since childhood he has been interested in motorcycles, a passion he's carried into adulthood. This passion for all things automotive led him to study automotive design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California from 1983 to 1986. He speaks English, German, Italian and Spanish. Since 2010 he has been listed in Debretts People of Today.

Stephenson's design career spans several of Europe's best known automotive companies. He began at Ford's design studio in Cologne, Germany, where he penned some of the distinctive features of the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, in particular the large double rear spoiler. He later moved to BMW where he spent 11 years, eventually leading to an appointment as Senior Designer. His redesign of the new Mini in 2001 led to the award-winning Mini Hatch, known generally as the Mini or Mini Cooper. This rebirth of the Mini launched a new generation of Mini marque models, and led to the Mini winning the prestigious North American Car of the Year award in 2003. Also while at BMW, Stephenson designed the BMW X5.