In what appears to be more of a demotion rather than an advancement, the chief designer at Ford of Europe, Phil Simmons, will head over to Land Rover as the SUV company's first-ever studio director responsible specifically for the iconic Range Rover.

Simmons joins the Land Rover design team on the first of August and he will be responsible for future design direction of all Range Rover products. The move does come as a bit of a surprise considering that Land Rover along with Jaguar is now up for sale.

The designer previously spent ten years of his career at Land Rover and did a stint with Ford in the U.S., where he was responsible for Ford’s family of medium size vehicles such as the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ. He was appointed chief designer for Ford of Europe in September 1999.

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