Veteran designer Peter Horbury this week was named senior vice president of design at Lotus.
Horbury previously headed design at Lotus parent company Geely. Coinciding with the announcement by Lotus, Geely said it signed on former Bentley design chief Stefan Sielaff as its new lead designer.
Prior to joining Geely in 2011, Horbury was most widely known for his work at Ford and Volvo. At Volvo, he was credited with moving the Swedish brand away from its traditional boxy look, and was responsible for cars like the C30 hatch and C70 convertible. At Ford, he worked on numerous models including 2007's Lincoln MKR concept.
Horbury's appointment comes just days after Lotus announced it is working on at least four new models to join the Emira and Evija, all of them powered by batteries. They include a pair of crossovers, a coupe-like sedan, and a sports car. The first of the new models will be a crossover arriving in 2022.
In a statement, Horbury said he is keen to work closely with the existing design team at Lotus to “deliver a new generation of global Lotus products and to expand the Lotus design network around the world.”
As for Sielaff, he stepped down from the lead design role at Bentley in January after a six-year stint with the company. He will be responsible for Geely's namesake brand as well as Lynk & Co. and the Chinese-market Geometry and Zeekr brands. Sielaff has spent most of his career with Audi, where he was responsible for designs like the original A1 Sportback and A7 Sportback.
Former Audi designer Andreas Mindt was named as Sielaff's replacement at Bentley.
