Former Fiat design chief joins Riversimple, hydrogen fuel-cell car company

Christopher Reitz, the top European car designer who headed the design team at Fiat - where he was responsible for the Fiat 500 - and then Alfa Romeo, has joined Riversimple, the UK based company which is developing a hydrogen fuel cell car.

It is one of the most high-profile moves away from the traditional automotive industry to sustainable transport and Reitz, who left Alfa Romeo this spring, said: "This really is a step into something different, to design cars that really are the future. Increasingly I have felt that it does not make much sense to move tons of steel around, using a lot of fuel and resources. There has to be a better way and I think Riversimple has found it, not only with its hydrogen fuel cell car but with the whole concept of the company which has as its goal complete sustainability."

Riversimple is in the process of second-round financing. The major investor is currently the family of Ernst Piëch of the Porsche family dynasty.

Reitz's first job will be to design the cars that will be seen on the streets of Leicester, and one other as yet un-named UK region, when pilots get underway in the summer of 2012. In a ground-breaking deal with Leicester City Council, Riversimple announced this summer that 30 cars would be test driven around
Leicester for a year, with drivers providing feeback on their experience.

Reitz, aged 42, said: "It has to look good as well as be functional. We don't want to shock because if you shock you are very quickly old and out of fashion. We need to be robust, innovative and safe and getting the right mixture will help produce a successful product. It is very exciting.'

Hugo Spowers, the Riversimple founder, said: "I am delighted that someone of Chris' calibre and standing in the automotive world has decided to join Riversimple and help us to produce sustainable cars that will be the envy of others. Chris has been responsible for some of the most beautiful and practical
designs in the auto industry in recent years. His experience and flair will be of great help to us as we move towards seeing Riversimple cars on the streets
and roads of the UK."

Riversimple plan to produce their cars in small factories near markets, to lease the cars rather than sell them, so that "planned obsolescence" is no longer in the manufacturer's interest, to open-source the technology and to have the customers, the suppliers and the environment represented in their company
structure as well as shareholders.