Bentley Design Chief Donckerwolke Bins EXP 9 F Concept, Working on New SUV and Continental

A few months into his tenure as Bentley chief designer, Volkswagen Group’s star designer Luc Donckerwolke is shaking up operations to prepare the brand for the future. Shortly after the departure of exterior design chief David Hilton, Donckerwolke has hired former GM and VW Group designer Sang Yup Lee to take charge. Meanwhile, former interior chief Robin Page has left Bentley to work with former VW Group designer Thomas Ingenlath at Volvo. Page’s replacement will be announced shortly.

Donckerwolke and his team have their work cut out for them. While the brand is pushing an SUV into production, the EXP 9 F concept—unveiled to incredulous eyes at the Geneva auto show last year—has been canned. After Geneva, it was shown not only at the Beijing show, but surprisingly also at last year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance. Now the brand is working on a sportier and more contemporary interpretation of an SUV.

Work also is progressing on the next-generation Continental GT, which will break away from the current look. Because of budget constraints during its development process, the second-generation Continental GT is little more than an extensive face lift. At least its Flying Spur derivative, finalized before Donckerwolke came on board, will be more differentiated from the first-generation model than the two-door Continentals were.

Donckerwolke is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Vevey, Switzerland. He joined Audi in 1992 and held different positions at Audi and Škoda, then moved to Lamborghini in 1998 and became the brand’s chief designer in 2003. Two years after that promotion, Donckerwolke took over as chief designer of Seat; he became head of the Volkswagen Group’s advanced design in 2011.

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• Comparison Test: 2013 Cadillac XTS vs. 2012 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed
• First Drive: 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed
• Instrumented Test: 2012 Bentley Mulsanne

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He was heavily involved in the Audi A2, first-generation Škoda Fabia and Octavia, and the Lamborghini Gallardo and Murciélago. Donckerwolke is a genuine car guy; his personal collection includes a Lamborghini Espada, a Lamborghini Miura, a VW-Porsche 914/6 race car, a BMW 3.0 CSI, and a Fiat 850 Coupé Sport. His level of enthusiasm for grand-turismo cars is hard to surpass.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/Zy1VaXeSZls/

Roberto Guerrero Maurício Gugelmin Dan Gurney Hubert Hahne Mike Hailwood