University's car design course hits milestone

The course is one of the longest-running programmes at Coventry University

A university course which has taught students who have gone on to become major names in the car industry is being celebrated with an exhibition and a book.

Coventry University said notable alumni from the Automotive and Transport Design course, launched 50 years ago, now work for organisations including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Volvo, Bentley and Tesla.

Nearly 3,000 students have passed through the undergraduate programme since 1974 and a further 500 have graduated from the master's programme.

The exhibition runs from Saturday in the new Delia Derbyshire building at the university.

Called Coventry Connections, it will be held until 28 June.

The alumni list included such figures in the car industry as JLR's chief creative officer Gerry McGovern and Lisa Reeves, head of interior design at Volvo Cars in Sweden, the university said.

The university said alumni included JLR's chief creative officer Gerry McGovern

"There are automotive design centres all over the world which has meant that this course has always had a global reach," Prof Nick Hull said.

"We couldn’t be prouder that many Coventry alumni now head up these studios across the world."