There's been a major shakeup at the BMW Group design department, including the addition of former Polestar design chief Maximilian Missoni to the ranks.
The revised group, announced on Sept. 13, is still led by Adrian van Hooydonk, who has held the top position since 2009, when he replaced Chris Bangle. However, a major change is at the design team for the BMW brand, which now has separate leaders for BMW's small and large cars.
Missoni has been charged with leading the design of BMW's large cars, as well as models developed by Alpina. The independent tuner becomes part of the BMW fold starting in 2025.
Missoni led Polestar design for the past six years and is largely responsible for the Swedish EV brand's current lineup. He left Polestar in August and his role at the company has since been filled by former Audi designer Philipp Römers.
BMW Group design team - Sept. 2024
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 single 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 the 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.
