A couple of weeks ago we brought you rumors that Frank Stephenson could be returning to Mini to head up its design department. The signs seemed to point even further in that direction when McLaren announced his departure.
Now BMW has announced a new head of design for the British marque, but it’s not Stephenson. Instead the job will now be taken up by Oliver Heilmer (pictured with vest) who has served until now as chief designer of the Designworks division.
Taking Heilmer’s place will be Holger Hampf (color headshot with glasses), who’s been promoted from within the Designworks division, while Gernot Schmierer (black & white headshot) as been named head of user experience design for the entire group.
These design appointments come shortly after several more made just a few months ago, including Jozef Kabaň (BMW automobiles), Domagoj Dukec (BMW i and M vehicles), Edgar Heinrich (BMW Motorrad), and Giles Taylor (Rolls-Royce). They all report to group design chief Adrian van Hooydonk. But there’s still no word on where Stephenson might pop up next.
The affable, multilingual, and demonstrably talented Frank Stephenson (pictured in suit) previously worked for BMW for 11 years, designing the first Mini hatch to put the brand back on the map. He also designed the first-gen BMW X5 before moving to Ferrari and Maserati, where he oversaw the design of such vehicles as the Ferrari F430 and 612 Scaglietti (as the Prancing Horse marque started moving design in-house from Pininfarina), and the Maserati MC12, Quattroporte, and GranTurismo.
Frank designed the reborn Fiat 500 among others under the Fiat Group umbrella before switching to McLaren in 2008, stepping down just last week – ostensibly to take on a new job about which we’re still waiting to hear.
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