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Stephen Joseph Harper (born August 1958) [1] is a British designer who works primarily in the automotive industry. He is responsible for a number of cars including the MG F, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, and the 2010 Volvo C70. Founding design education took place at the Royal College of Art in London from 1979 to 1980, following earning an apprenticeship to the Austin Motor Company (a part of British Leyland) in Longbridge, Birmingham in 1978.
In his early days at Austin Rover Stephen worked on the Austin Montego, Rover 800 as well as a large number of unreleased cars, working at the Canley Studios in Coventry.
Stephen then moved to Volvo BV in the Netherlands to help with the Volvo 480 and Volvo 440 before returning to the UK to work for MGA. It was here that Stephen was responsible for the design of various Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ford and with Rover Special products, creating the initial design for the MGF as well as a number of other niche Rovers that weren't released.
During that time, he also designed the Rediffusion Concept 90 generation of flight training simulators, as well as being, in 1989, the first European automotive designer to work in China.
In 1993, he established his own design consultancy SHADO Ltd (SHADO is the acronym of "Steve Harper Art & Design Organisation") as a Design Consultancy, as managing director, creating mobility scooters, entertainment ride simulators, commercial vehicles and sports cars, along with the vehicles for the MARS2112 restaurant, in New York. Stephen's 2nd secondment to Volvo (this time in Sweden) was in 2000, when he became influential in the creation of Volvo's post-millennial re-definition of the brand, being responsible for the design of a dozen production and concept cars for the company.
Returning to the UK in 2008, he was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Design at Coventry University and also established SHADO Design as a Design Consultancy, as managing director, this time in Paignton in Devon. There followed designs of a further influential flight training simulator for THALES, the 'Reality Seven', and works in Aerospace, Defence and Automotive fields.
In 2012 he joined SAIC in Shanghai and Tokyo developing the MG Icon concept car with the Chinese design team. While in China, following this, he helped establish the Geely Design Studio in Shanghai. Between 2014 and 2016, with a unique team of interns and post graduates, they created a pair of highly individual Electric Vehicle design and prototypes.
ThaiRung Union cars in Bangkok commissioned him to design a low volume 4x4 range of vehicles, the Transformer, and there also, developed a Diesel and EV Bus, to suit the Asian commuting requirements.
His passion for design has led to success in the creation of Design and Clay Modelling MasterClass Courses, which have seen students attending for all corners of the globe.
In 2017 his extensive experience and knowledge saw him appointed as an expert witness, establishing Stephen as a highly reputable expert on Trademark and Design focused proceedings.
For two years, from mid-2018 to 2020, his role was to be the Creative Lead at Proton Holdings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as it integrated into the Geely portfolio of brands.
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The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including Aston Martin, Bentley, Caterham Cars, Daimler, Jaguar, Lagonda, Land Rover, Lister Cars, Lotus, MG, McLaren, Mini, MOKE, Morgan, Rolls-Royce and TVR. Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and Vauxhall Motors. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Dennis Eagle, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks, TEVVA and London Electric Vehicle Company.
The Ford Scorpio is an executive car that was produced by Ford Germany from 1985 to 1998. It was the replacement for the European Ford Granada line. Like its predecessor, the Scorpio was targeted at the executive car market. A variant known as the Merkur Scorpio was sold briefly on the North American market during the late 1980s. While Ford's Taurus was of a similar size, Ford maintained the need for two parallel cars – while Scorpio buyers valued high-speed stability, a tight turning radius, and a sizable rear seat, American buyers had other requirements.
Volvo Cars is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles. Volvo is headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company's main marketing revolves around safety and its Swedish heritage and design.
The Ford Five Hundred is a full-size automobile that was manufactured and marketed by Ford from the 2005 to 2007 model years. Deriving its nameplate from the previous "500" suffix used by Ford during the 1950s to the 1970s on its top-tier trims, the Five Hundred was introduced alongside the Ford Fusion as two model lines intended to replace the Ford Taurus. Within the Ford model line, the Five Hundred was slotted between the Fusion and Crown Victoria. Within Lincoln-Mercury, the model line was marketed under a revived Mercury Montego nameplate.
The Volvo V50 is the station wagon version of the Volvo S40 small family car first unveiled at the 2003 Bologna Motor Show, both assembled at Ghent, Belgium. Sharing the Volvo P1 platform with the European Ford Focus and the Mazda 3, the V50 featured interior "theatre" lighting, a floating center stack and "Volvo Intelligent Vehicle Architecture".
The Volvo P1/Mazda BK/Ford Global C-car Platform is Ford's global compact car automobile platform. It replaces the Ford C170 platform and Mazda B platform (BJ). The C1 platform debuted with the European Ford Focus C-Max compact MPV in early 2004. The platform is designed for either front- or all-wheel drive.
The Volvo S40 is a series of subcompact executive cars marketed and produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1995 to 2012, offered as a more mainstream alternative to the compact executive Volvo S60 to compete in a lower pricing bracket. The S40 was more or less positioned against premium-leaning small family cars like the Volkswagen Jetta as well as some mass-market large family cars.
The World Car Awards is a group of automobile Car of the Year awards selected by a jury of 102 international automotive journalists from 30 countries. Cars considered must be sold in at least two major markets on at least two separate continents prior to 30 March of the year of the award. The contest was inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January 2004.
Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.
A transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular to the direction of travel. Many modern front-wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting configuration. Most rear-wheel drive vehicles use a longitudinal engine configuration, where the engine's crankshaft axis is parallel with the direction of travel, except for some rear-mid engine vehicles, which use a transverse engine and transaxle mounted in the rear instead of the front. Despite typically being used in light vehicles, it is not restricted to such designs and has also been used on armoured fighting vehicles to save interior space.
The PSA Group sells a variety of diesel automobile engines with the HDi designation. Earlier versions were exclusive to Peugeot and Citroën. In 1998, PSA entered into a joint venture with the Ford Motor Company to produce a range of new diesel engines. The joint venture makes identical engines which are fitted to a variety of vehicles from a range of car manufacturers. The engines are assembled in production plants in the cities of Trémery and Douvrin for PSA in France, at the Ford Dagenham plant in the UK, and Volvo Engine Plant in Skövde Sweden when Volvo was still under Ford ownership.
Frank Stephenson is a Moroccan-born American automobile designer who has worked for Ford, BMW, Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren.
The Aisin AW AF33 is a 5-speed automatic transaxle developed and manufactured in Anjo, Japan by Aisin AW, a division of Aisin. It is designed to be used in transverse engine configurations in both FWD and AWD configurations.
The Ford EUCD platform is Ford's global midsize car automobile platform launched in 2006.
Haldex Traction is a manufacturer of intelligent all-wheel drive (AWD) systems, founded in Sweden. Since invention of Gen I in 1998, the company produced several generations of products licensed to and customized for some major automotive brands, that in turn have marketed Haldex Traction AWD under different names. On 17 December 2010, American-based BorgWarner announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire the Traction Systems division of Haldex AB. BorgWarner completed the acquisition of the Traction Systems division on 1 February 2011. Haldex Traction Systems was incorporated in BorgWarner TorqTransfer Systems.
The Volvo Modular Engine is a family of straight-four, straight-five, and straight-six automobile piston engines that was produced by Volvo Cars in Skövde, Sweden from 1990 until 2016. All engines feature an aluminum engine block and aluminum cylinder head, forged steel connecting rods, aluminum pistons and double overhead camshafts.
Peter Dorich Horbury was a British car designer widely known for his design work for Volvo and his roles as Executive Design Director, Americas for Ford (2004-2009), Chief Designer at Ford's Premier Automotive Group, Executive Vice President of Design at Geely Auto between 2011 and 2021 — and as Senior Vice President of Design at Lotus.
The Mazda L-series is a mid-sized inline 4-cylinder gasoline piston engine designed by Mazda as part of their MZR family, ranging in displacement from 1.8 to 2.5 liters. Introduced in 2001, it is the evolution of the cast-iron block F-engine. It was co-developed with Ford, who owned a controlling stake in Mazda at the time. Ford uses it as their 1.8 L to 2.5 L Duratec world engine and holds a license to develop engines based off the L-series in perpetuity.
International Automotive Design was a British design company, based in West Sussex, England.
Volvo Car Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (VCMM) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sweden-based Volvo Car Corporation. The company was established in September 1966 through a joint venture between AB Volvo and the Federal Auto Company Sdn. Bhd..