A major shakeup has occurred at the BMW Group's design department, including the addition of former Polestar design chief Maximilian Missoni.
The revised team, announced on September 13, is still led by Adrian van Hooydonk, who has held the top position since 2009, when he replaced Chris Bangle. However, a significant change is that the design team for the BMW brand now has separate leaders for its small and large cars.
Missoni has been tasked with leading the design of BMW's large cars, as well as the models developed by Alpina. The independent tuner will become part of the BMW fold starting in 2025.
Missoni led Polestar's design for the past six years and is largely responsible for the current lineup of the Swedish EV brand. He left Polestar in August, and his role has since been filled by former Audi designer Philipp Römers.
Responsible for the design of BMW's small cars is Oliver Heilmer, who previously headed BMW Group's Mini brand. Heilmer also takes on responsibility for design at the BMW M performance skunkworks.
Domagoj Dukec, who was previously the sole head of the BMW brand design team, has been moved to head BMW Group's Rolls-Royce brand. He also oversees the design for Rolls-Royce's expanding coachbuilding service in his new role.
Dukec replaces Anders Warming, who has been moved to head BMW's Advanced Design team, responsible for concept design and BMW's design consultancy division. Warming takes over from Holger Hampf, who fills Heilmer's seat at Mini.
BMW Group has also appointed Claudia Braun to oversee a new cross-brand department for colors and material design. She has been fulfilling a similar role for the BMW brand since April and previously worked at Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.
Adrian is an Editor. Psychology graduate with over 4 years in the automotive industry, 3 in front of the camera. Occasionally seen at his family owned tyre shop. He will only buy cars that pass the big bottle test.
