Nissan elevates man responsible for the Juke to head of design

Alfonso Albaisa will step down as Nissan's chief designer on October 1, and his replacement will be Matthew Weaver, who is currently a senior design director at the Japanese automaker.

Although Mr Albaisa intends to retire from the industry, he will stay on as an advisor until the end of the year to help smooth the transition.

Mr Weaver has a bachelor of arts (industrial and product design) from Coventry University, and after completing a degree at the UK's Royal College of Art in 1998 he spent a few years at Ford and Volkswagen. 

In 2001 he moved to Nissan, where he has worked ever since, except for a four-year stint in the early 2010s when he was the principal designer at Makkina, an independent automotive design firm based in Notting Hill, London.

Upon returning from Makkina he was appointed to a senior role at Infiniti, under Mr Albaisa, before heading up the company's European design studios. In April 2025 Mr Weaver was appointed a global senior design director and moved to Tokyo. 

His credits include the Qashqai, but the standout model in his CV is the first-generation Juke. With its bug-eye split headlight treatment, full-width grille, tiny side windows, pronounced creases over the wheel-arches, and hockey stick tail-lights, it's a car that generates a lot of opinions.

Launched in 2010, it did brisk business, especially in Europe, where it notched up 100,000 sales for most of its run and was the company's second most popular model after the Qashqai.

Mr Weaver replaces Mr Albaisa, who as a Cuban-American was the first foreigner to head up Nissan's design department.

After graduating from the Pratt Institute in New York City, he spent his entire working career at Nissan, mostly in North America. 

Mr Albaisa helped to shape the exterior of the Infiniti J30/Nissan Leopard J Ferie. As he rose up the company's ranks he reportedly advocated for eye-catching designs, such as the Cube and Juke. 

He was appointed as the company's design boss in 2017 and during his time in charge, he helped to refine and then eliminate the company's V-motion grille, as well as shepherding the Z through to production.

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