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Show pony: The designer behind the hugely successful current Mustang sportscar, Joel Piaskowski, is one of two former heads of the Australian design team who, under Moray Callum, will reshape the look and feel of Ford models worldwide.

FORD Motor Company’s vice-president of design, Moray Callum, has restructured the Blue Oval brand’s global design operations, with former heads of the Australian-based Asia-Pacific studio – Joel Piaskowski and Chris Svensson – taking on key new positions that will shape the future of the US auto giant’s vehicles over the next decade.

Mr Piaskowski, who over the past three years has led Ford’s European design team, is returning to Dearborn as global director of design, overseeing passenger cars and crossover utility vehicles, while Mr Svensson steps up from his role as design director of the Americas to global director of design, overseeing a second newly defined “work stream”: trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles.

Ford Australia has advised that there are no changes to the Australian-based team led by Asia-Pacific design director Todd Willing, although the various moves overseas will likely bring new lines of reporting back into Detroit.

Among these, head of Lincoln design David Woodhouse – the man who three years ago replaced Australian Max Wolff as overseer of Ford’s luxury brand while Mr Wolff subsequently returned to Melbourne last year as head of exterior design for Asia-Pacific – has been appointed director of global strategic design but retains responsibility for Lincoln.

According to Ford, Mr Woodhouse will now oversee the expansion of the company’s global strategic design group.

A former top designer in the US for Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and General Motors, Mr Piaskowski joined Ford in 2010 as exterior design director for The Americas and was appointed head of the Asia-Pacific design team in January 2013, working briefly on a variety of local and overseas models including the final Australian-built Falcon and Territory, the current Ranger ute and Everest SUV and the Chinese-market Escort small sedan.

More widely known as one of the architects of the current Ford Mustang sportscar and F-150 pick-up, Mr Piaskowski returned to Detroit early in 2014 to oversee Ford’s advanced design studios globally while Mr Callum undertook his first major design operations restructure, having taken over the top job from J Mays at the end of the previous year.

Mr Piaskowski was then tapped in July 2014 to succeed Martin Smith, who was retiring as director of design for Ford of Europe, based in Cologne, Germany. He now hands over the reins to Dutch-born Amko Leenarts, who most recently has served as global head of interior design.

Joining Ford in 2012 from the PSA Group (Peugeot/Citroen), where he was interior design chief, Mr Leenarts initially worked out of the Cologne office as global head of interior design strategy before taking overall responsibility for interiors, moving to Dearborn with the promotion.

Mr Svensson, meanwhile, spent almost three years in Australia as head of the regional design centre, joining the team in August 2010 when Scott Strong returned to Detroit (as head of interior design for North America).

At the end of his tenure in 2013, Mr Svensson handed over to Mr Piaskowski as the two designers effectively swapped roles.

Mr Callum’s restructure has also led to the announcement of strategic design director Freeman Thomas’ retirement at the end of this year after 12 years of service – and almost 35 years in the industry.

Mr Freeman is responsible for managing the company’s advanced design studios in Dearborn, Irvine (California), London and Shanghai – a role that will fall to Kemal Curic, another relatively new recruit who rose to prominence at Ford with his work on Mustang.

The wide-ranging design shake-up is understood to have come as a direct result of Jim Hackett taking over from Mark Fields as Ford’s president and CEO in May, with the company now deciding that it needs to strengthen its strategic design operations, shorten product development times and place more emphasis on Dearborn as the design epicentre.

This is deemed particularly important given the current heavy emphasis on autonomous cars, other mobility streams and on-board technology, and the effect these are having on vehicle design, but will also be reflected in significant new models on the horizon such as the new-generation Australian-developed Ranger ute – to be built and sold in the US for the first time in 2019 – and the reborn Bronco SUV that shares the Ranger’s platform and is scheduled to arrive a year later.

A full-electric SUV is also reportedly in the works, among a variety of other all-new vehicles.

By Terry Martin

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