Since July, Gilles Vidal has been leading Stellantis’ European design division, and he immediately made his top priority clear: giving each brand in the group a sharp, unmistakable visual identity. His mission is to eliminate overlap and strengthen what makes every marque unique, starting with those that struggle the most to express themselves through design.
Stellantis design chief Gilles Vidal pushes for stronger brand identities in Europe
After five years at Renault, where he oversaw projects such as the R5, R4 E-Tech, Symbioz and the sixth-generation Clio, Vidal returned to Stellantis with the task of realigning the European brands and helping boost sales. During a conference in Vélizy on November 13, he laid out his vision in no uncertain terms: to win back the market, Stellantis must rebuild from the personality of its brands.
The first step is to reinforce internal differentiation. “Being a good brand isn’t enough; you need to push its defining traits, even to the extreme if necessary,” Vidal explained, hinting that some marques require deeper work. Peugeot, Citroën and Opel already have clear stylistic signatures, while DS, despite its quality and refinement, still needs a more readable and coherent design direction.
The second message is about a shift in creative thinking. Vidal wants teams to freely consider separating the design of electric models from combustion ones, to experiment with new proportions to avoid the SUV-driven homogenization of the market, and to restore character and relevance to body styles like MPVs, an area where Citroën has already shown boldness. In his view, every model must convey a personality, whether muscular, functional, elegant or simply different from the rest.
Without ruling out more daring approaches, such as the retro-futurism he explored at Renault, Vidal made it clear that bold stylistic choices must have solid reasoning behind them and fit within a coherent strategy. With a refreshed leadership team under CEO Antonio Filosa, Stellantis is betting on a revival driven by creativity, identity and pragmatism, an effort aimed at giving each brand a clearer and stronger voice in an increasingly crowded European market.
