New Ford Australia head of design

ACCLAIMED international car designer Joel Piaskowski has relocated to Australia as the new director of design for the Asia Pacific and Africa region.

Based at the regional product development centre at Ford Australia headquarters in Melbourne, Mr Piaskowski has effectively swapped roles with his predecessor Chris Svensson, who has moved to Detroit to take up Mr Piaskowski’s former role of exterior design director for The Americas.

Mr Piaskowski had been in the role since joining the US auto giant in October 2010, overseeing the exterior design of several key vehicles including the recent Atlas concept which previews the Blue Oval brand’s all-important next-generation F-Series pick-up.

His team had also led the design program for the highly anticipated new-generation Mustang muscle-car.

As well as influencing the design of Australian-built models, Mr Piaskowski will now play a key role in developing cars for markets across the region, including China.

He reports directly to executive design director for Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa, Martin Smith, and also works closely with Shanghai-based vice-president of product development for the region, Kumar Galhotra.

Over a 23-year career in the industry, Mr Piaskowski has also worked for Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and General Motors.

Prior to joining Ford, he was president of Mercedes’ advanced design centre in California for the relatively short period of 15 months over 2009-2010, having replaced Gorden Wagener who went on to oversee the German luxury brand’s entire design operations.

Mr Piaskowski previously served for six years as director of design for Hyundai in the US, as well as Kia when the two brands operated out of the same studio, and oversaw a number of important concepts and production models including the internationally acclaimed current-generation Genesis Coupe.

He started his career at General Motors in December 2002, working for more than 12 years on exterior and interior designs for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and Opel/Vauxhall/Holden vehicles.