Who's Where: Christopher Weil becomes head of Mini exterior design, Marcus Syring head of Rolls-Royce exteriors

An internal reshuffle in Munich has seen Christopher Weil appointed head of exterior design for Mini, replacing Marcus Syring who takes up a similar position at Rolls-Royce.

The changes see Weil return to Munich after just over a year as director of automotive design at BMW DesignworksUSA in LA. His portfolio includes the BMW 328 Hommage, F30 3 Series, 5 Series GT, current 7 Series and 4 Series. He joined BMW in 2000 after graduating from Pforzheim University.

"My aim was to get the best guy to succeed Marcus and it's a dream for me to have Christopher Weil on my team because he has done some significant cars for BMW," head of Mini design Anders Warming told CDN. "This global perspective you get from Designworks – you know the US, you know Shanghai and the Munich base – he has it in his blood. I'm overjoyed."

Marcus Syring had been at Mini since the brand's relaunch under the BMW Group in 2000 and has been head of exterior design since 2002. His most recent cars include the Mini Coupe and Roadster and his CV also includes the BMW Z3 Coupe. Marcus moves to Rolls-Royce to head up its exterior design department, reporting to design director Giles Taylor.

He joined the design team of BMW Motorsport GmbH after graduating in product design at the University of Wuppertal in 1991, moving in 1997 to the Design Department of BMW Technik GmbH.

"Marcus wanted a fresh challenge and he has found it at Rolls-Royce. It helps that he has been thinking British heritage," says BMW Group design director Adrian van Hooydonk. Anders Warming added: "I love Marcus to death but I wouldn't want to stand in the way of him, quite the contrary. It's good for all of us to do a little bit of a change so I'm so happy for him."

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By Owen Ready