Bentley Motors has appointed Stefan Sielaff as its new Director of Design, replacing Luc Donckerwolke who has decided to leave the business and Volkswagen AG. Sielaff, 53, graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with a degree in Vehicle Design and has worked in the Volkswagen Group for more than 25 years but also had a three year spell at Mercedes-Benz from 2003 to 2006 as Design Director of the Interior Competence Center in Sindelfingen. Much of Sielaff's time at the Volkswagen Group has been spent working with Audi; where his more recent design work include the Audi A1 and A7.
Sielaff will officially start in his role at Bentley on 1 July 2015, and will report directly to the company's Member of the Board for Engineering, Rolf Frech. In addition to this, he will also retain his position as Head of Volkswagen Group Interior Design, where he reports directly to Director of Volkswagen Group Design, Dr. Walter de Silva.
Commenting on the new appointment, Wolfgang Dürheimer, Chairman and CEO at Bentley Motors, said: "Bentley is entering one of the most important phases in the company's history, with significant plans for new models. With his experience, creative vision and passion for the Bentley brand Stefan Sielaff is perfectly placed to lead the design of our future models."
Anything else?
It is too late for Sielaff to have any input in the forthcoming Bentley Bentayga SUV, but it will be interesting to see just what influence the German designer will have over the luxury car maker's future models such as the proposed EXP 10 Speed 6 and another, smaller SUV.