Following our earlier story regarding changes taking place within BMW Group’s design organization, the company today announced the hire of Jozef Kaban to head BMW Automobiles Design. The news is a bit surprising, not least of which because Kaban was doing some impressive work for the Skoda brand.
BMW Group also announced the promotion of Domagoj Dukec, who will now be responsible for BMW i and BMW M Design. He was formerly head of exterior design for BMW Automobiles, a role he was appointed to in 2013, when former BMW design director Karim Habib moved up in rank.
“I am looking forward to these reinforcements and the new positioning of the BMW Group design team,” says Adrian van Hooydonk. “Both Jozef Kabaň and Domagoj Dukec bring the experience, the talent and the visionary power we need for our future design orientation.”
Adrian van Hooydonk is working steadfastly to fill the positions vacated by several high-level designers within the BMW Group organization, but he can’t work fast enough. The company still needs to fill the vacant space at the top of the Mini Design organization, a position that was previously held by longtime BMW man Anders Warming. Warming left Mini for relaunched Borgward Group and still resides in Germany.
We don’t doubt that Slovakian designer Jozef Kaban will acclimate well to his new role. After all, he joins the company from the Volkswagen Group, where he began his design career. Prior to taking over the top design role at Czech automaker Skoda Auto in 2008, Kaban spent quite a bit of time working for BMW rival Audi. So he knows a thing of two about German company culture and premium automobiles. He’s also credited with the design of the Bugatti Veyron.
Domagoj Dukec, who will be responsible for the design of BMW i and BMW M vehicles, has been with the BMW Group since 2010, when he joined the BMW brand from PSA Citroen. Dukec was made responsible for exterior design at BMW in 2013 and most recently took on responsibility for the BMW i subbrand when Frenchman Benoit Jacob left to join Chinese startup Future Mobility.
BMW also formally announced the departure of former Head of BMW Design Karim Habib, which Form Trends broke last month, and added a quote from Van Hooydonk: “We respect this decision by Karim Habib, thank him and wish him all the best for his future challenges.”
