You may not know him by name, but Donato Coco was one of the key men responsible for the designs of cars like the Ferrari F430 Scuderia and new 458 Italia, as well as a handful of French city runabouts.

That’s because his former role was as director of design and development for the Italian supercar manufacturer and before that he was the chief of design for Citroen.

For his latest role, the Italian national will be based at Lotus’ headquarters in Hethel, England. Lotus has announced today the appointment of Coco as its new director of design, a role he will take up on January 4, next year.

Lotus is on the verge of launching a completely revamped model lineup, with a successor to the legendary Esprit supercar due in the next couple of years, as well as replacements for the Elise and Exige line of cars.

It comes as no surprise that Coco is an ex-Ferrari man. The CEO of the British sports car company, Dany Bahar, is also a former Ferrari staffer and the Italian supercar manufacturer is one rival that the re-energized Lotus has clearly in its sights.

_______________________________________

Follow Motor Authority on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.