Ford design director Peter Horbury takes head design job at Volvo

Late last week Steve Mattin decided to leave his job as Volvo's design guru, and already the company has found a replacement in the form of Peter Horbury. The new design director will take up his pencil on May 1.

Horbury comes fresh from the same position - executive director of design - at Ford, though his previous seat had him at the head of the now-defunct Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which included Aston Martin, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. Before that he spent 11 years as the design director at Volvo from 1991 to 2002. So in a way, Horbury is merely returning home.

"We are very happy to have Peter back on board here at Volvo. He will play an important role in taking our Scandinavian design language to the next level and ensure we continue to develop attractive cars for the premium market" says Stephen Odell, president and CEO of Volvo.

Some of Horbury's work at Volvo during his last stint as design director included the XC90 Concept, the Environment Concept and the Safety Concept.

Taking Horbury's place at Ford will be Moray Callum, moving up from Ford's design director of the Americas position.