Dirk van Braeckel (born 19 February 1958 in Deinze), is a Belgian

car design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern moto ...

er. He is known for the designing of various models for Volkswagen Group, especially for the

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

brand.

Career

Born in Deinze, after leaving school, van Braeckel studied electrical engineering, before joining Ford as an apprentice car designer in Cologne, West Germany. Ford then agreed to sponsor him undertake a degree in car design at the Royal College of Art, London. On graduation, he joined Audi in 1984, working on external design including the

Audi A8 The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...

concept and Audi A3. In 1993, Volkswagen Group boss Ferdinand Piëch personally chose him to be the design head for Volkswagen's newly purchased Škoda Auto division, where he revised the entire model line-up, designing the Octavia and Fabia models. After Volkswagen purchased Bentley in 1998 from Vickers plc, van Braeckel joined the British-based company in August 1999 as Director of Design and Styling. His brief was to design a car that could sell in higher volumes than the $240,000 Bentley Arnage model. Van Braeckel designed the Bentley Continental GT, which in 2004 sold 5,983 units, exceeding forecasts by 62%, and in 2009 the Bentley Mulsanne which was designed by him was launched.

Cars

concept, 1994 * Audi A3, 1996 * Škoda Octavia, 1996 * Škoda Fabia, 1999 * Škoda Superb, 2001 * Škoda Octavia, 2004 * Bentley Continental GT, 2004 * Bentley Flying Spur, 2005 * Bentley Azure, 2006 * Bentley Brooklands, 2007 * Bentley Mulsanne, 2009 *

Bentley EXP 9 F The Bentley EXP 9 F is a concept car produced by Bentley and first shown to the public at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and is the concept SUV for the Bentayga. A luxury SUV capable of seating four adults, the concept was designed by Dirk van ...

, 2012

Awards

In 2007, van Braeckel was awarded the laureate of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

's Christophe Plantin Prize, which honours Belgian citizens whose cultural, artistic or scientific activities contribute to the country's prestige abroad. In 2008, van Braeckel was awarded the European Automotive Design Award by Designers (Europe).

References

External links

* 1958 births Living people People from Deinze Alumni of the Royal College of Art Belgian automobile designers Volkswagen Group designers Audi people Škoda people {{Belgium-bio-stub