Fioravanti certainly has the talent to build a successful brand through design - the 74-year-old is credited with penning the Ferrari Daytona and 288 GTO - but transforming Beijing Auto into a BMW-rival will require a lot of work. Beijing Auto was founded as a motorcycle maker during the 1950s and has struggled to find a brand identity in the car world.
"Chinese manufacturers recognize that they have some problems that they have to improve, one of which is the lack of brand identity," he told Bloomberg. "The first that achieves its own recognizable brand identity and styling language will be the winner."
That lack of identity has put Chinese car makers at a disadvantage to their foreign rivals. While companies like General Motors and Volkswagen continue to grow their market share of the Chinese market, domestic brands saw their market share decline from 31.4 percent to 27.5 percent during the first five months of the year.
Beijing Auto isn't alone in trying to improve its brand status through established designers, with Chinese automakers Brilliance, Chery and Great Wall following suit. Although a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen if the decision to hire outside designers will bear fruit.
"It would be as if Leonardo da Vinci were hired to teach a group of aspiring artists how to create art," said Greg E. Anderson, author of "Designated Drivers: How China Plans to Dominate the Global Auto Industry." "He could never transfer the essence of how a naturally talented artist creates something like the Mona Lisa or the Last Supper."
If Chinese automakers do crack the code for producing world-class vehicles, it won't be for some time. Beijing Auto doesn't expect to rival the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz until 2025.
