Robinson Michaael

Born in 1956 in Los Angeles, California, Micheal Robinson’s love affair with cars started when he was 16 years old after he stumbled across a 1970 Strato’s Zero poster. Inspired by this image, he immigrated to Italy in 1979 to seek out a career in car design.

Robinson then spent 19 years at Fiat, designing the interiors for the Fiat Bravo/Brava and Marea. At age 40, he was promoted to Design Director at Lancia, where he pioneered the first autonomous cars in Europe: the 1998 Lancia Dialogos, with Artificial Intelligence called Ambrogio, and the 2000 Lancia Nea. He also designed Pope John Paul II’s personal limousine in 1999. In 2009, Mike became Design Director at Bertone, where he developed many concept cars like the Alfa Romeo Centennial Pandion, plus the Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed train (presently in service all across Italy), and the AgustaWestland Project Zero, a fully electric VTOL concept helicopter.

Today Robinson is a partner in ED Design, the largest independent design and engineering service in Italy. In 2015, ED presented a radical, windowless, autonomous, electric racecar concept called Torq at the Geneva Auto Show. Robinson is a renowned futurist and keynote speaker. In 2003, Robinson was inducted into the Car Designer Hall of Fame at the Italian National Auto Museum (MAUTO).