Who's Where: Felix Kilbertus appointed Fiat chief exterior designer

Felix Kilbertus has been appointed Fiat's chief exterior designer. Kilbertus' move sees him cross Turin, from his previous position as a lead designer at Pininfarina, to Centro Stile.

In his new role he is responsible for the exterior design of Fiat-branded passenger vehicles. He reports directly to Andreas Wuppinger, head of Fiat Design EMEA (Europe Middle East and Asia), while Roberto Giolito oversees all European design activities including Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Lancia, with Lorenzo Ramaciotti head of global design.

"It's a really exciting period for the company," Kilbertus told Car Design News. "With our newfound financial stability we can move forward and prepare the brand for the next generation. Fiat has so much potential – you only need to look at its iconic cars like the 124 Spyder, 131 Miafiori, the Multipla, X 1/9. Fiat has done something similar to Mini with just one historical reference – the 500 – so you can see there is huge potential here."

Kilbertus graduated in industrial design from UAID in Linz, Austria in 2003, during which time he also received a masters in transportation design at Strate College in Paris.

His first role in the industry was as an exterior designer at Renault. As part of the advanced design team, he worked on various pre-production projects – one of which became the Wind –followed by a stint in the production design studio, where he worked on the Megane wagon. In 2008, as part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, he headed to Nissan's Global Design Center in Atsugi, Japan for two years, helping create the Esflow concept and Eporo robot before heading back to France.

In 2011, Kilbertus headed south of the Alps to Turin where he worked for Pininfarina as a lead designer. Alongside consultancy work for various OEMs, he was also the lead designer of the highly-acclaimed BMW Pininfarina GranLusso coupé concept.

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By Owen Ready