Mini names BMW's Warming to succeed Hildebrand as design chief

Mini has named Anders Warming to succeed Gert Hildebrand as head of design by the end of the month.

Hildebrand will leave the BMW AG subsidiary on Dec. 31, ending a 10-year run that saw him create a new look and feel for the Mini brand following its relaunch under BMW, the company said in a statement without providing details on the designer's future plans.

Warming is currently BMW's head of exterior design, a job he has held since 2007. In this role he has styled the exteriors of the current Z4 roadster and 5-series mid-sized range as well as the Concept 6 Series Coupe that debuted at the Paris auto show in September. The 38-year-old native of Denmark started his BMW career at the company's DesignworksUSA studio in California in 1997. He relocated to BMW headquarters in Munich in 2005 to become team leader for advanced design.

Starting in January 2001, Hildebrand, 57, oversaw the creation of the Mini three-door hatchback, the Mini Cabriolet, the three-and-a-half door Clubman and brand's first four-door model, the Countryman crossover, which launched in September. Hildebrand and his team also developed the Mini Coupe and Roadster concepts that debuted last year. Production versions of those models will appear on the market starting in 2011.

"I would like to wish Gert Hildebrand all the best for the future and thank him for working with us so well and so successfully", Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group design, said in the statement. "Anders Warming has the expertise, the necessary experience and the intuition to take the Mini brand, with the support of the entire Mini design team, into a ever more successful future."

By Douglas A. Bolduc- Automotive News