BMW Group is shaking up its design teams. The company will make big changes across its brands starting October 1. Adrian van Hooydonk will stay in charge of the overall design direction.

Domagoj Dukec, who's led BMW brand design since April 2019, will move to head up design at Rolls-Royce. Dukec once said, "A good design is not about pretty or ugly."

BMW's splitting its brand design between two leaders. Maximilian Missoni, who used to be Polestar's design chief, will handle upper mid-size and luxury class models, including BMW Alpina-badged cars. Oliver Heilmer, who's been Mini's design boss since 2017, will take care of compact to mid-size cars and M cars.

At Mini, Holger Hampf will step in as the new design leader. He's moving from his role as head of the Designworks division.

Anders Warming, who used to lead design at Rolls-Royce, will now be in charge of Designworks and Advanced Design.

BMW's also creating a new department that will work across all its brands. Claudia Braun will lead this team, focusing on Color and Material Design for BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce.

Christian Bauer will keep his job leading the digital customer experience.

People on social media haven't been kind about BMW's recent designs. But the numbers tell a different story. BMW had a record-breaking 2023, selling 2,252,793 cars.

It's hard to say if the polarizing designs stopped BMW from selling even more cars. The company's success might come from its wide range of models, mix of gas, hybrid, and electric cars, and coverage of the whole premium segment.

Source: BMW