Nissan’s Alfonso Albaisa named Newsweek’s Designer of the Year

By CARSIFU | 13 April 2022


NEW YORK: From the Ariya to the Nissan Z and several new models in between, Nissan lead designer Alfonso Albaisa has imprinted his vision on the brand in many ways since joining the company more than 30 years ago.

On Tuesday, Albaisa was recognised for his lifetime of work as Designer of the Year in Newsweek's inaugural "World's Greatest Auto Disruptors" awards.

The Newsweek awards highlight the best and brightest in the auto industry across six categories. Albaisa received the award amid the Nissan NEXT transformation, a four-year global initiative that kicked off in 2020, promising 12 new models including the all-new Ariya, Frontier, Pathfinder, Rogue and Nissan Z.

"Disruption is the job description, so I take great honour in this formal recognition of doing what my team and I were born to do day in and day out" said Albaisa, Senior Vice President for Global Design for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. "It's also incredibly humbling to receive acknowledgement alongside my incredibly talented industry peers for 34 years of wonderful collaborations at Nissan."

Senior Vice President for Global Design for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML)


Since joining Nissan in 1988, Albaisa has worked on many models and all brands under the Nissan Motor Corporation umbrella including Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun.

His recent notable vehicle designs for US market vehicles include the Z Proto concept, Ariya, Frontier, Pathfinder, Rogue and Sentra for Nissan Brand and Infiniti QX60, QX55 for Infiniti. Albaisa's designs were also recently recognised in the Newsweek Auto Awards "Best Car Lineup" for 2021.

In addition to overseeing vehicle design, Albaisa also provides direction for the company's logos, display spaces, dealerships and even building architecture.

Albaisa received this award at the Newsweek offices in Manhattan on the eve of the 2022 New York International Auto Show.

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