Oliver Winterbottom, the man of sharp edges (obituary)
A little late, we would like to remember the British designer Oliver Winterbottom, who passed away on November 6, 2020 at the age of 76.
His name may not be as well-known as Michelotti's or Giugiaro's, but his cars certainly are.
He began his career as a designer at Jaguar. More visible than his work on the XJ21 prototype were his contributions to Lotus from 1969 onwards.
He designed the Lotus Elite and later also the Lotus Eclat, both representatives of the wedge shape.
Winterbottom moved on to TVR in 1978 and designed the Tasmin, probably one of his most successful designs ever. However, he must not have liked the way the design developed over the coming years. The collaboration with TVR was relatively short-lived.
Back at Lotus, he worked on the M90 prototype (pictured above) from 1980 onwards, although it never reached production maturity. In 1985, Oliver left Lotus again to join General Motors in Detroit, only to return to Lotus a year later and remain there until 1998. Winterbottom then ran his own design consultancy until his retirement.
