Christopher E Bangle hands over the reigns of BMW group design to Adrian van Hooydonk (44) with whom he has worked in BMW Group design development for nearly 17 years. Van Hooydonk is currently Head of BMW Automobile Design. In his new position he will be responsible for design development for the BMW, Rolls-Royce and MINI brands.
What's the difference between BMW Group Design and BMW Automotive Design? Is it that the former also includes Rolls Royce and MINI, whilst the latter is BMW on it's own? If that's the case, would a head of Automotive Design work independently, or report to the Group Design head?
And... surely the Group Design head would have very little to do other than look over the shoulder of the three Automotive Design heads?
I really hope that Adrian van Hooydonk is a complete genius (and workaholic) as he's got a huge amount of lost ground to recover....
I wish him the very best of luck in his new position.
Tigger.
PS: Now, how about Gert Hildebrand?
May '04 - Feb '07 R50 Cooper, Feb '07 - May '10 R53 Cooper S. Really enjoyed our time with MINI's, but simply ran out of space! May '10 +, Focus RS powered!
I drove an ACV30 mule at Gaydon Proving Ground, Considering it was built mainly of fibreglass on a spaceframe with a 1.4K ~Series engine and had no real trim it was a complete hoot. I liked the rough around the edges handling , daft power delivery and gearbox that whined like a banshee
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Is it that the former also includes Rolls Royce and MINI, whilst the latter is BMW on it's own? If that's the case, would a head of Automotive Design work independently, or report to the Group Design head? 
