Aston Martin is strengthening its design team as it prepares to more than double its lineup in the coming years.
The automaker confirmed Friday the appointment of Volkswagen Group veteran designer Tobias Sühlmann as its new head of exterior design.
He replaces Miles Nurnberger who has been promoted to the role of design director, with both reporting to Marek Reichman, Aston Martin's Chief Creative Officer.
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Sühlmann was responsible for the exterior design of several Volkswagen models including the CC-replacing Arteon sedan and recently revealed third-generation Touareg, which isn't coming to the United States. He was appointed as head of exterior design at Bugatti last year, where he replaced Bugatti Chiron designer Sasha Selipanov who left in 2016 to join Genesis, Automotive News (subscription required) reported Friday.
Aston Martin still has five new models to introduce as part of its Second Century plan, which calls for seven cars in seven years. The first two have already arrived in the form of the DB11 and redesigned Vantage.
Late this year we'll see the Vanquish-replacing DBS Superleggera and in 2019 should be the arrival of Aston Martin's long-awaited SUV, rumored to be called a Varekai. These two are likely too far along in their development to be influenced by Sühlmann. Instead, his first tasks will likelly be to design the new mid-engine supercar due around 2020 as well as a Lagonda SUV due in 2021. A Lagonda sedan is also in the works and is due around 2023.
