Who's Where: Luc Donckerwolke appointed Head of Advanced Design at VW Group

Luc Donckerwolke has been appointed Head of Advanced Design at the Volkswagen Group effective August 1, 2011. In this new function, he will report directly to Walter de'Silva, Volkswagen Group's Head of Design. Donckerwolke's successor as Director of Design at the Seat brand is Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos.

Widely recognized for the creating the form language of modern day Lamborghinis – he joined the brand as design project manager in 1998 and was appointed Head of Design in 2003 – Donckerwolke's most recent role was with the Seat brand, where he has been Director of Design since 2005. 

Donckerwolke studied industrial engineering and transportation design and joined the Volkswagen Group in 1992. He began as an exterior designer at Audi before moving to Škoda in 1994 to take charge of coordinating exterior design. Donckerwolke returned to Audi in 1996 to head the exterior design department at the Munich design studio, subsequently becoming studio director in Ingolstadt.

Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos will take over the reins as Design Director at Seat. Having joined the Volkswagen Group in 1995, Mesonero-Romanos was involved in designing several models at Seat. The automotive design graduate continued his career at the Group's Design Center Europe in Spain from 1997 where he took charge of exterior design on various projects for the Seat, Volkswagen and Audi brands.

Mesonero-Romanos moved to Renault in 2001, assuming responsibility for several design projects and becoming Head of Advanced Design from 2007. He was appointed Design Director at Renault Samsung Motors in 2009.

By Eric Gallina