Audi designer to head VW's design center

Volkswagen AG has picked Stefan Sielaff, its current head of Audi design, to lead the VW design center in Potsdam, Germany.

Sielaff, 49, will replace Thomas Ingenlath, who is leaving the company. The change will be effective Feb. 1, VW said in a statement Wednesday. Sielaff also will head VW's group interior design and report directly to the automaker's group design chief Walter de Silva. Audi's head of group design, Wolfgang Egger, will assume Sielaff's Audi duties.

Sielaff joined VW group in 1990 as an interior designer for Audi. In 1997 he was put in charge of VW's design studio in Munich.

In 2003 he left VW for DaimlerChrysler, where he was an interior design director. He returned to VW in 2006 to head Audi design and played a key role in developing Audi's distinctive look, including the use of LED lights, and in shaping the brand's identity.

His vision inspired show cars, such as the Audi e-tron Spyder and the A2 e-tron. The Audi A6 and A8 also bear his mark, the company said.

By Christina Rogers- Automotive News