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JPG: John Paul Gregory has spent the past eight years evolving Bentley’s exterior design, with his work amply demonstrated by the 2015 EXP 10 Speed 6 concept.

JPG: John Paul Gregory has spent the past eight years evolving Bentley’s exterior design, with his work amply demonstrated by the 2015 EXP 10 Speed 6 concept.

BENTLEY Motors has promoted John Paul Gregory to head of exterior design, moving into the role vacated earlier this year by SangYup Lee who was lured across to Hyundai and its burgeoning Genesis luxury brand.

A Brit, Mr Gregory has worked for the Volkswagen Group since 2005, starting in the Wolfsburg studio as an exterior designer before transferring to the VW-owned Bentley marque three years later.

Most recently, Mr Gregory was working as advanced exterior design leader.

Among his most recent projects was the EXP 10 Speed 6 coupe concept unveiled in Geneva last year, which demonstrated the brand’s future design direction and previewed a possible sub-Continental GT two-seater sportscar.

Bentley Motors director of design Stefan Sielaff described Mr Gregory’s eight years’ experience with the brand as “invaluable”.

“He brings a passion for the brand and a deep understanding of the direction we wish to go in,” Mr Sielaff said.

“This is an important time for the company as we look ahead to new models with John Paul, alongside our highly skilled design team, bringing many insights and ideas to inspire the next great Bentley.”

Mr Gregory said he looked forward to his role in shaping Bentley’s “next chapter”.

“Bentley has an illustrious design history with an instantly recognisable, distinctive design language, one I am already very proud to play a part in evolving,” he said.

“I look forward to helping shape the next chapter and maintaining Bentley’s iconic status as a creator of luxurious, desirable, high-performance cars.”

As previously reported, SangYup Lee was head of exterior and advanced design at Bentley Motors before moving back to South Korea to work for Hyundai alongside Bentley’s former design director Luc Donckerwolke.

Mr Donckerwolke joined Hyundai last November to head up its newly created prestige design division, which is primarily responsible for the burgeoning Genesis brand.

He is working with another former VW Group design heavyweight, Hyundai Motor Group president and chief design officer Peter Schreyer, to craft a new family of vehicles that will see the South Korean auto giant compete head-to-head with the best from Europe and Japan in the same way that Infiniti represents the pinnacle of Nissan, and Lexus does likewise for Toyota.

By Terry Martin

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