The Incredible Mr. Donckerwolke

Luc Donckerwolke has an impressive resume that has just gotten more so.

That is, he joined the Volkswagen Group in 1992, where he was an exterior designer at Audi. That was followed by a two-year stint at Škoda starting in 1994, where he coordinated exterior design. Back to Audi in 1996 for a couple of years, to head the exterior design department at its Munich design studio, then to studio director at Audi HQ in Ingolstadt.

In 1998 the peripatetic Donckerwolke was off to Lamborghini in 1998 as design project manager, and perhaps given a longer-than-usual stay (OK, talent has a lot to do with it, too), he was named head of design at Lamborghini in 2003. At Lambo his work included the Murcielago and Gallardo, so presumably that talent might have had a whole lot to do with it.

However, in 2005 he was off to SEAT, where he was director of design until now, as he has been named director of design for Bentley Motors. Donckerwolke is succeeding Dirk van Braeckel, who is moving over to Volkswagen Group design.

(By the way: all of the companies that Donckerwolke has been with are Volkswagen Group brands.)

Speaking of Donckerwolke’s new position, Walter de Silva, who heads Volkswagen Group design, said, “Luc Donckerwolke brings a wealth of design talent to Bentley. His extensive experience makes him the ideal person to take forward Bentley’s future design language, at a time when the company has significant plans for new models.”

Here’s hoping he does something to that EXP 9 design.