Report: New Head of Ford Car and Crossover Design Is Michigander Joel Piaskowski
Ford Motor Company is reportedly creating a new position underneath Moray Callum, Ford’s vice president for design, for Ford of Europe design chief Joel Piaskowski.
Piaskowski, the head of design at Ford of Europe for the last three years, will become the global design head for cars and crossovers, according to Automotive News Europe.
Piaskowski previously worked in design at General Motors for twelve years, Hyundai for six, and then briefly at Mercedes-Benz, but now appears as though he’s being groomed for a future lead at Ford, where boss Moray Callum is approaching his 60th year.
Joel Piaskowski earned name recognition after being credited with the design of the first Hyundai Genesis and Genesis Coupe — massive departures for the Hyundai brand.
At Ford, the 48-year-old Piaskowski had a hand in the current F-150 pickup truck and led the sixth-generation Mustang’s exterior team before being shifted to Ford of Europe.
Piaskowski’s role in Europe required translating Ford’s so-called Kinetic design into next-generation models such as the all-new Ford Fiesta.
Clearly Ford likes what it sees in Piaskowski, who’s now being moved to a more expansive role.
He’ll have important projects in the offing. The current Ford Escape and current Ford Fusion are both now in their fifth model year; the Explorer in its seventh.
[Images: Ford Motor Company]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.
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When Piaskowski was at Hyundai, since the Koreans had just opened one up, I asked him why does every car company have to have a design studio in California. He said that car designers like the beach and pretty girls too. Essentially those studios are there to help attract talent.
Because Ford's European sourced US offerings have been such a hit /s. consumeraffairs.com/automotive/ford_escape.html consumeraffairs.com/automotive/ford_focus.html