Designer Joel Piaskowski will join Ford Motor Co. on Oct. 1 as director of exterior design for The Americas, bringing experience as a designer of Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz brand vehicles, Ford spokesman Alan Hall confirmed Monday.
Piaskowski, 41, will report to Moray Callum. He fills the vacancy created when Callum took over as executive director of design for The Americas in May 2009.
Piaskowski's most recent position was head of the Advanced Design studio for Mercedes-Benz in Irvine, Calif., a position he held from late 2008 until March of this year.
I hate met Joel and before wish him well at Ford. He is a really good designer.
One of the things that surprises me most about Hyundai's recent string of successes is the fact that they have achieved them despite the super high personnel rotation they seem to have.
www.AutolineDetroit.tv had a tease about this on twitter...
the ^ podcast should be avail now
tho
they just mentioned Hyundai - which made me excited
with MB too - now I'm worried
Your joking right? What Hyundai doesn't look like a shallow copy of an existing design?
His job at Mercedes was probably to make the cars unique again, as Lexus and Hyundai already had their cookie cutters on the old design.
Regardless, just not many design changes are needed, now that the global Ford is in place. Safety designs to the front for sure, and maybe he would have executed the Fiesta grill a little better than it came out.
This leads me to believe he may be used where design change is not global....Lincoln or large trucks and SUVs.
www.AutolineDetroit.tv had a tease about this on twitter...
the ^ podcast should be avail now
tho
they just mentioned Hyundai - which made me excited
with MB too - now I'm worried
I agree with you. Ex Mercedes-Benz designer is not a good thing for Ford . The actual Mercedes-Benz cars and crossovers line are a design nigthmare. The E class is too busy with too much hard lines and curves.The new CLS class too.
And the Hyundai Genesis sedan is not a breathtaken design! is bored. i hope in Ford this man find the inspiration he need.
Your joking right? What Hyundai doesn't look like a shallow copy of an existing design?
His job at Mercedes was probably to make the cars unique again, as Lexus and Hyundai already had their cookie cutters on the old design.
Regardless, just not many design changes are needed, now that the global Ford is in place. Safety designs to the front for sure, and maybe he would have executed the Fiesta grill a little better than it came out.
This leads me to believe he may be used where design change is not global....Lincoln or large trucks and SUVs.
imho Hyundai-Kia has made HUGE strides in styling lately
&
MB has been suffering from (per me)
- Mazda Envy
- designers on DRUGS
for quite a while
+
I've been wondering if Lincoln might be the ultimate recipient too
& THAT is NOT purely reassuring to me
since imho Lincoln needs genius-level direction to succeed & I don't rank H-K quite that highly
then again
imho Lincoln needs mechanical differentiation at least as much as 'bespoke' styling
so Scott Tobin's appointment as Lincoln's top engineer and product development executive (LINK) is potentially a bigger plus to me
I want to see Lincoln come back to more straight lines (not boxy but more traditional).. much like the concepts from the early 2000's
The styling of my LS I feel is beautiful... I felt it was a great transition from the boxy Town Cars and made them look much more modern.
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