Franz von Holzhausen

Franz von Holzhausen ( born May 10, 1968 in Simsbury, Connecticut) is an American automobile designer. After a period as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, Design Manager at General Motors, Director of Design at Mazda North America, he is now the chief designer ( Senior Design Executive) of Tesla Motors. His most famous design is the Tesla Model S, an electric car that attracted more than 500 km ( 350 miles ) reach a worldwide sensation.

Journey

Franz von Holzhausen studied industrial design from 1986 to 1988 at Syracuse University. 1988-1992 studied at the Art Center College of Design, where he graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Transportation Design.

From June 1992 to January 2000 he worked as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, where he was involved in numerous projects from project studies Concept One to the Microbus.

In the years 2000 to 2005 he worked as a design director for General Motors. During this time he was responsible for the design of the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and the Opel GT, all building on the Kappa platform. The Solstice won in the U.S. both the title of Car of the Year as well as price Design of the Year 2006.

In the period from February 2005 to August 2008 had von Holzhausen as Director of Design at Mazda North American Design Center. There, a team under his leadership was responsible for the development of the Mazda Nagare, which was fundamental to the future overall design concept of Mazda. Likewise, he and his Californian team the design of the racing car prototype Mazda Furai. From Holzhausen was also responsible for the design of the facelift of the Mazda RX -8, Mazda Tribute, Mazda5 and was instrumental in the design development of Mazda6 and Mazda3.

Since August 2008 he has been chief designer at Tesla Motors after its founder and concept developer Elon Musk recruited him. There he developed the design of the Tesla Model S, the Musk designed. He also leads the design development of the Tesla Model X Crossover SUV/VAN-

Swell

  • Short biography on the company side of Tesla Motors
Lotus Cars Automotive design Facelift (automotive) Mazda RX-8
348975
de