Following the departure of Wolfgang Egger as head of design at Audi earlier this month, the German automaker has announced that Marc Lichte will now take up the reigns. Lichte, 44, comes to Audi following a stint as head of exterior design for the Volkswagen brand, where he worked on several Golf projects as well as the striking Scirocco.

Lichte has been tasked with further developing and differentiating the design of Audi’s respective model lines, which to even an expert’s eye can often be difficult to distinguish on just a passing glance.

He will also be faced with coming up with designs for 11 brand new model lines, which Audi has confirmed for launch before the year 2020.

Lichte’s strengths are said to be an ability to express core values of a brand in an “emotional form and with maximum quality.” For Audi, those core values are quattro all-wheel drive and intelligent lightweight construction.

As for Wolfgang Egger, after leading Audi’s design team since 2007, the 50-year-old exec will now move to Volkswagen Group-owned design house Italdesign Giugiaro, where he will serve as a styling director and a member of the management team.

The legendary Italian design house is based in Turin and serves as creative think tank for all the brands of the Volkswagen Group. It also still provides services to external clients, though only industrial design.

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