VW Beginning Design Management Transition, Insiders Say

TURIN – Volkswagen is moving toward its next development phase for its design empire, company insiders say.

Italian Walter de Silva, the design chief who rules over 12 brands and 21 design centers, is not set to retire any time soon, but he is said to be tasked with ensuring a smooth transition of power – a task that may take three to four years to complete.

De Silva has had a lot on his plate as manager of a huge design empire, and it is unclear whether a direct replacement will be groomed or responsibilities divided more strategically among the bevy of brands in the VW Group.

The upcoming introduction of the new Audi Concept at the Los Angeles auto show next month is only one of the many steps to be taken toward this new design world at the German automaker.

In a recent conversation de Silva concedes governing so many brands and managing some 300 models at any given time is a burden that is not always fun.

“Indeed, I am happy only one hour per day, when I can use my pencil and sketch ideas and concepts on paper,” he concedes. “When I do that I am happy, and I know it because I sing.”

The son of a talented architect, de Silva says he looks forward to his next life, when he expects to be more active in consumer-product design and works of arts than he is today.

“I need that for my own welfare,” he says. “One cannot live only in a world of automobiles, trucks and, now, motorcycles.”

But for now, de Silva is keeping focus on his job within VW, and he does it seven days a week. Asked to reveal a bit more about the “revolutionary” concept Audi will be unveiling in L.A. Nov. 19, he is tightlipped, declining to say whether it will be a CUV (so popular in the U.S.) or the much-speculated A9, a high-end model positioned close to Bentley and targeted directly against the Mercedes S-Class.

All he says is the show car is a new manifesto in Audi design, written upon the latest platforms, using latest technology and anticipating upcoming trends in connectivity.

The concept’s role is similar to the one played by the 2003 Audi Nuvolari. Although a realistic design, the concept did not preview a specific production car but became the reference for all new Audi models produced in the following months and years.

The brand’s new design revolution is being strategically planned, and the creation of a new TT sub-brand has been foreshadowed as well by many TT show cars of the preceding months, including the Audi Allroad unveiled at Detroit in 2014, the TT Offroad presented in Beijing and the latest TT Sportback

Ulrich Hackenberg, the head of Audi R&D, signaled as much when he revealed the TT Sportback as “a new member of a potential TT family.”

De Silva says the Audi L.A. concept was designed under the direction of Marc Lichte, even though the inspiring principles have been on Audi’s drawing board long before Lichte was sent to Ingolstadt in February after a long stint as head of exterior design for Volkswagen.

A comparison of the new single-frame grille unveiled last month at the Paris auto show on the TT Sportback and the one to be seen in Los Angeles show car will tell the story.

But insiders now have no doubt Lichte, a Hackenberg protégé, is the rising star among those in the VW Group design studios. Lichte is credited for the design of many successful Volkswagens, included the current Golf and the new European Passat that goes on sale early next year.

Significantly, the statement released by Audi to tease the show car is more about Lichte than the vehicle, touting the launch of a new era of design and Lichte’s first work as head of Audi styling.