After only three months as Bentley’s design director Tobias Sühlmann has joined McLaren as chief design officer
McLaren Automotive has (finally) found a brand-new chief design officer in Tobias Sühlmann. His appointment was announced today – Friday 21st April 2023 – and he starts his new role in September, which will be more than a year after the previous long-standing design director Rob Melville left it vacant for Middle Eastern pastures new – becoming chief design officer for CEER, a Saudi Arabian electric vehicle start-up business.
McLaren Automotive will be hoping Sühlmann sticks around longer than in his previous top-job role at Bentley though. He lasted less than three months as director of design at the Crewe-based brand, after a January 24th 2023 announcement and official February 1st start. To be fair, Sühlmann had joined Bentley back in October 2021 as head of exterior design and was described by its PR as “instrumental” in the creation of the Batur limited-run grand tourer. And he only gained the overall Bentley design director position after his former boss, Andreas Mindt was sent back to Germany to take over the design reins at Volkswagen passenger cars from the ousted Jozef Kabaň.
This content is available to subscribers only | Sign in
Unlock exclusive design knowledge, inspiration & connection.
Knowledge
Inspiration
Billed as $194 annually
Other currencies: £149 / €179 annually
Available to new subscribers only
Knowledge
Inspiration
Connection
Billed as $259 annually
Other currencies: £199 / €239 annually
Knowledge
Inspiration
Connection
Billed as $389 annually
Other currencies: £299 / €359 annually
Explore more subscription options.
For help with individual user subscriptions please contact:
Eric Ng
Eric.Ng@ultimamedia.com
For help with multi user subscriptions please contact:
Angela Yang
Angela.Yang@cardesignnews.com
The designer has received his second promotion in as many years
Autonomous vehicles need not be as cold and uninviting as we might first think, providing the focus lands on humanisation and smooth UX design
Car Design News goes inside Ford’s human-centered design studio to understand how the brand is researching what people want, use and ultimately need
