BMW Group has appointed former Polestar head of design Maximilian Missoni to oversee the design of upper-midsize and luxury class models at BMW and BMW Alpina.

Polestar said Mr Missoni’s successor is former Audi design executive Philipp Roemers.

It marks other changes within Polestar including its CEO Thomas Ingenlath leaving on October 1 and being replaced by former Opel/Vauxhall CEO Michael Lohscheller.

Mr Missoni (46) spent the first decade of his design career at Volkswagen Group, moving to Volvo in 2012 as head of exterior design.

Maximilian Missoni

The Austrian teamed with Thomas Ingenlath to reimagine the look and feel of Volvo’s car line-up under its new Chinese owner, Zhejiang Geely Holding, which acquired the Swedish car-maker from Ford Motor Company in 2010.

Some of the key models that emerged during those years were the second-generation XC90 flagship SUV and the second-generation XC60 medium SUV, which remains Volvo’s global best-seller.

In 2018, about a year after Mr Ingenlath was named CEO of Polestar, Mr Missoni went back to work for his former boss. Mr Ingenlath was Volvo’s head of design prior to taking over Polestar.

As Polestar design chief, Mr Missoni spent six years creating the brand’s current design language.

Some of the results are rolling out this year as the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 start to reach customers around the world. One of the most striking models Mr Missoni designed at the all-electric car-maker was the Polestar 6 roadster.

Automotive News Europe awarded Mr Missoni the 2022 Eurostar award for his work defining the Polestar line-up through multiple models.

Mr Missoni’s hiring is part of BMW styling boss Adrian van Hooydonk’s sweeping reorganisation of the division to create a cross-brand team “to meet changing demands for future-oriented vehicle design”, BMW said in a September 13 statement.

BMW Design Group

BMW has also taken on Claudia Braun, who will head the newly created cross-brand department for colour and material design for BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.

Ms Braun (47) had been managing colour and materials for the BMW brand since April. She previously worked for Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Polestar and Rivian.

Also changing design studio roles at BMW is Oliver Heilmer, who will be responsible for the design of all compact and midsize BMW models as well as BMW M. He was previously head of Mini design, a role that goes to Holger Hampf, who was previously head of BMW Group Designworks.

Previous head of Rolls-Royce design Anders Warming will oversee all advanced design topics, as well as the BMW Group Designworks subsidiary, while Domagoj Dukec will lead Rolls-Royce design, including its Bespoke and Coachbuild units. He was previously head of the BMW design studio.