- Józef Kaban announced as new head of MG’s design deprtament
- Kaban previously worked at BMW and Rolls Royce, and also designed the Bugatti Veyron
- His last job was at VW looking into future mobility, having been replaced as chief of VW design
A car photographer friend who shoots for both magazines and automakers once told me that brands looking to hire him to take snaps of their new city car would look through his portfolio and always stop at the supercar images. “Make it look like that!” they’d say, which, of course, was impossible.
I wonder if MG’s incoming design boss, Jozef Kaban, had the same experience when being interviewed for his new gig. Kaban’s resume includes stints at Audi, BMW and Rolls Royce, but one notable highlight was his creating the look of the Bugatti Veyron in the early 2000s.
Related: Electric MG EXE181 Hypercar Concept Aims For 1.9 Second 0-62 MPH
Perhaps of more interest to MG is Kaban’s role in shaping VW’s ID electric fleet. The British-sounding Chinese automaker has already begun to make a name for itself with EVs like the MG4 (an ID.3 rival that costs thousands less and is better to drive) and the Cyberster sports car and will enjoy a little publicity boost this year because 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the MG name.
Kaban is a graduate of London’s legendary Royal Academy of Art and prior to his appointment at MG, was developing “forward-looking mobility solutions” for VW, having moved across from being overall head of VW design, a role now occupied by former Bentley man, Andreas Mindt.
Now, this is pure speculation on our part, but we get the impression that Kaban might have been sidelined at VW, which has made a big fuss about a return to cars with an assertive stance, like the ID.2all and ID. GTI concepts. And if that’s the case, moving to MG presents a great opportunity for Kaban. The MG name might be 100, but the modern MG brand is only just starting to make its presence felt as Chinese automakers begin to make major inroads into markets outside their own borders.
We’ll have to wait a while before we get to see the first fruits of Kaban’s labor at MG, but the centenary celebrations should keep the brand in the headlines during 2024. This week at the Beijing Motor Show the firm unveiled the EXE181 concept, which draws inspiration from the slippery land-speed record-breaking EX181 from 1957.
The original car achieved a top speed of 254.91 mph (410.23 kmh) at Bonneville in 1959 using a supercharged version of the production MGA’s 1.5-liter twin-cam engine tuned to produce 300 hp (304 PS).
