Kemal Curic has been appointed Design Director of Lincoln, replacing David Woodhouse who elected to leave the company earlier this year to join Nissan Design America. A long-time Ford Motor Co. designer, Curic is now responsible for leading the long-term vision of the company’s luxury brand.
Curic is a native of Sarajevo who grew up in Germany and Croatia. He’s been fascinated by vehicle design since he was a young child, captivated by the American muscle cars he would occasionally see on the streets and often drawing cars in his school notebooks. “I had no idea I could make my passion my job,” he said. “It’s truly a dream come true.”
Curic began his career at Ford of Europe in 2003 after earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial design and a master’s in transportation design in Germany. He went to work designing cars like the European-market Fiesta, Mondeo and Kuga, then transitioned to Ford’s Dearborn design team in 2010 to work on the 2015 Mustang, which he presented to us in a video that year.
In 2014, Curic became exterior design manager at Lincoln, working on the reborn Lincoln Continental and Navigator. He then went on to lead the transformation of the Lincoln design framework and serve as chief designer, working on projects such as the new Lincoln Aviator, a three-row midsize SUV that expands Lincoln’s portfolio and represents the next step in the company’s design vision.
“Aviator is such an elegant, beautifully proportioned vehicle,” says Curic. “There are so many wonderful details. Everything in Aviator comes from a deep understanding of the client, and us meeting their discerning needs and expectations.”
He also served as lead exterior designer on the Corsair, the brand’s newest SUV and replacement for the Lincoln MKC. Following on from the design themes initiated by the Navigator, Nautilus, and Aviator, Curic considers the new Corsair one of Lincoln’s most expressive, dramatically designed vehicles.
With Lincoln now riding a wave of product momentum, Curic said he wants to continue to create things that are truly amazing. “We’re in such a unique place now,” he said. “We have the perfect opportunity to do that.”
