VW Group’s Egger to Head Interbrand Design Studio

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Veteran Volkswagen Group designer Wolfgang Egger is changing hats, moving from the automaker’s Italdesign Giugiaro design and engineering studio near Turin, Italy, to head VW’s Interbrand Design Studio in Braunschweig, Germany.

Egger has spent the past year with Italdesign after six years as design chief with VW’s Audi and Lamborghini brands. He is expected to return to Germany after the Geneva Motor Show, where a concept car he developed will be displayed, to work on projects to be shared among various VW brands.

Egger debuted at last year’s Geneva show with the Clipper concept car, a design study that focused on interior space efficiency, connectivity and human interface.

Sources tell WardsAuto executives with VW, which acquired Italdesign-Giugiaro in 2010, are enthusiastic about the company’s ideas and prototypes but are concerned it has fallen short of performing as a profit center as it did under ownership by the Giugiaro family.

Egger’s colleague Markus Kleimann, currently director of engineering at Italdesign-Giugiaro, also is being assigned to a new position within VW Group.