
BMW is shaking up its design leadership under the direction of Adrian van Hooydonk. The Bavarians have been a bit hit-and-miss with the styling of their vehicles in recent times, and the changes will affect the whole group, including BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce.
The shake-up is meant to ready the firm for the future, and that it will be influenced by the Neue Klasse “electric, digital, circular” philosophy, and will include the creation of a new cross-brand design team.

This team will cover color and material design for BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce, and will be headed by Claudia Braun.
Braun joined BMW earlier this year, and she brings with her an impressive résumé that includes senior roles at Volvo, Polestar, Rivian, Porsche, and Daimler, where she worked across the Mercedes, AMG, and Maybach brands.
Other changes include Oliver Heilmer leaving his position as head of design at Mini to look after the lines on all compact and midsize BMWs, as well as BMW M.
Domagoj Dukec is moving from being the head of the BMW design studio to taking responsibility for Rolls-Royce Design, including Bespoke and Coachbuild.
One big new hire is Maximilian Missoni. The Austrian design executive has names like Volkswagen, Volvo, and Polestar on his CV, and will be leading the design of upper midsize- and luxury-class BMWs (and BMW Alpina cars).
Anders Warming is moving from being head of design at Rolls-Royce to overseeing all Advanced Design topics.
Holger Hampf is changing from being head of BMW Group Designworks to being in charge of design for the Mini brand.
And last but not least, Christian Bauer is staying where he is, as lead for the digital customer experience across all brands.

All of these changes won’t really have an immediate impact on what you see in showrooms. Car designs are done years in advance, and van Hooydonk even said that everything up to 2029 has already been finalized—meaning it will be years before we see what the new guard comes up with.
Some of the names are known for their more minimalist design, so we might be in for fewer big kidneys and more subtle lines again.
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