Petrolicious Talks Episode 4: CEO of Singer Vehicle Design, Mazen Fawaz
Welcome to another episode of Petrolicious Talks, our podcast series with a simple but fulfilling mission to bring you inspiring stories, deep-dive conversations, and insights into the future of motoring from the greatest minds and most passionate enthusiasts in our community.
For our fourth episode—which can be streamed above and found here on our YouTube channel—Petrolicious founder and CEO Afshin Behnia talks with Mazen “Maz” Fawaz, the CEO of Singer Vehicle Design. Maz has been in the role since November 2019, but his history with the company goes all the way back to the very first Porsche that founder Rob Dickinson modified under the Singer name.
When Maz met Rob, the company was run out of a small shared industrial park space, but the passion for artistry, design, and general thoroughness that characterizes Singer-modified Porsche 911s was immediately recognizable to a dyed in the wool enthusiast like Maz. Back then Maz was involved in his technology and data-focused companies, but he and Rob remained close friends during the decade that followed, and Maz was part of the consulting and business-planning effort that led to Singer’s focus on the 964 platform, which has since been taken to the limit of a naturally aspirated daily-drivable 964 in the form of the company’s DLS project (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study), shown here.
Maz’s history with the 964 chassis goes back even further though, to his college years at the University of Michigan. A “lifer” car enthusiast, Maz would spend much of his free time at the nearby Dearborn-based exotic car dealership run by Bob Schneider, who enlisted Maz’s help with his operation from time to time in one of those “If you’re going to be hanging out here all the time, you might as well help out!” situations. Although this granted the grateful teenager the chance to drive everything from Ferrari F40s to Lamborghini LM002s, the car that impacted him most was a 1992 Mint Green 911. Years later and many hundreds of miles west, Maz would help Rob Dickinson and Singer Vehicle Design focus on the 964.
To hear the full story of how he became the CEO of the company, how he approaches the business of super-low-volume, highly bespoke services, and where he sees Singer Vehicle Design heading in the future, tune in for the full conversation in this episode of Petrolicious Talks.
As always, we hope you enjoy this episode, and we look forward to your feedback and suggestions for who and what you would like us to feature in future installments of Petrolicious Talks.
Photography courtesy of Alex Tapley and Singer Vehicle Design
