Women’s Day 2025: 5 Women Who Influenced Automotive Design

A woman's world is not devoid of hardships. Irrespective of the strata of her livelihood, her life has to combine responsibility, dutyship, bundled with a deep sense of ownership in all three aspects – family, office and the rest of the world. To manage it all and then execute one’s daily task is a skill that these five women have mastered and expressed themselves on the world’s greatest canvas by giving us some of the most iconic-looking cars. This Women’s Day, we celebrate their contribution and we hope to see more from them in the coming years

Ramkripa Ananthan, Mahindra & Mahindra

If you take the current lot of Mahindra SUVs, i.e. the Thar, Scorpio Classic and the XUV 700, it was all by Ramkripa aka Kripa Ananthan. She joined Mahindra & Mahindra in 1997 as an interior designer, and was responsible for designing the interior of the Bolero and Xylo as well. The XUV700, which is regarded as a pivotal point for Mahindra as an automotive company, was spearheaded by Ms Ananthan. It was her visionary and the end product went down the pages of history. 

Diane Allen, Nissan Design America

We’ve all loved the Nissan 370Z and the 350Z, two iconic sports cars that saw a massive revival in the early-2000s. The design of both these cars were led by Diane Allen, who had joined Nissan Design America in 1984 just fresh out of College For Creative Studies. It was not until 1999, did she get the responsibility to hold the mantle and design some important projects for the Japanese brand in America. From Zs to the Titan, the first Armada, the first Infiniti M, and the Rogue. Talk about versatility.`

Michelle Christensen, Acura

Michelle Christensen is the first female in the automotive industry to lead the development of a supercar. She spearheaded the revival of the second generation Honda Acura NSX. She has also worked at Nissan Design America before and had designed the QX60 Monograph, but it was the NSX which was her most influential contribution in the field of automotive design. In fact, that set the precedent for all future Acura sedans and SUVs until 2022. She currently leads the design team at Karma, and is giving shape and identity to the brand with every passing day.   

La Shirl Turner, Chrysler

Remember how Jeep’s sub-compact SUV, the Renegade, created quite the statement with its funky interior and exterior bright colour options. That was the effort of La Shirl Turner, who heads the Colours and Materials department at Chrysler. To say that the end product was not impressive at all, would not be the truth, plus when you create that kind of statement in a car segment which is largely preferred by men, it becomes quite the standard. 

Wendy Lee, Toyota's Calty Design

A car design is incomplete without its colours. The exterior shade of a car tells many stories, reveals personalities, and appeals in ways that can seldom be quantifiable. Wendy Lee, who heads the design studio at Toyota’s Calty Design, decides what colour options a Toyota Camry or a Supra should have. TCD is a design subsidiary of Toyota, where she has worked for the past 21 years. So, the next time you see a Supra on the internet and just gape at the stock colour options, remember that Wendy Lee curated it for you. 

These are just a few names in the industry who had stood out the most and has been part of several important projects. There are several automotive manufacturers at the moment who have hired women forces at their factory plant. From Tata Motors to Bajaj Auto, and even newcomers like Ola Electric and MG Motor India. To find out how many women these marque have at their manufacturing plant, head to this link.