Jozef Kabaň (born 4 January 1973) is a Slovak

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

designer. He started his career as a designer at

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

. In 2003 he moved to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

as an exterior design assistant. In 2007 he advanced to the position of Chief of Exterior Design at

. He was exterior designer of the

Volkswagen Lupo The Volkswagen Lupo (''Typ'' 6X) is a city car that was produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, from 1998 to 2005. It shares most of its aspects with the Volkswagen Group's SEAT Arosa, both derived from the Volkswagen Polo Mk3 platfor ...

SEAT Arosa The SEAT Arosa (''Typ'' 6H) is a city car that was manufactured by the Spanish automaker SEAT from 1997 to 2004. The model débuted in March 1997 at the Geneva Motor Show, while its facelifted version was presented in October 2000 at the Paris M ...

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti, and manufactured in Molsheim, France by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pi ...

and

Škoda Octavia The Škoda Octavia is a small family car (C-segment) produced by the Czech Republic, Czech Automotive industry, car manufacturer Škoda Auto since the end of 1996. It shares its name with an Škoda Octavia (1959–71), earlier model produced b ...

. He has been Chief of Exterior Design at

Škoda Auto Škoda Auto Akciová společnost, a.s. (), often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became State ow ...

since 2008. In early 2017 he left Škoda for BMW to become its head of design replacing

Karim Habib Karim Antoine Habib (born 1970) is a Lebanese automotive designer. He is currently the executive vice president and head of Kia global design for the Korean vehicle manufacturer Kia. He previously worked for BMW and Infiniti. He is fluent in Arab ...

. In 2019 he changed position within BMW Group and headed design at its subsidiary

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a British luxury automobile maker that has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW, BMW AG since 2003 – as the exclusive manufacturer of ''Rolls-Royce''-branded motor cars. The company's administra ...

. After half a year he decided to leave Rolls-Royce and BMW Group returning to VW in January 2020, this time for its main VW brand. In early 2023, Kabaň was dismissed from Volkswagen and replaced by Bentley designer Andreas Mindt after failing to impress VW's CEO. Bentley replaced Mindt with Tobias Sühlmann. On April 22nd, 2024,

MG Motor MG Motor is a British automotive manufacturer owned by SAIC Motor, a Chinese state-owned carmaker based in Shanghai. It uses the MG marque, founded in Oxford, England, in 1924. SAIC Motor gained control of the marque in December 2007 by acqu ...

officially announced that Kabaň has joined the company as the Vice President of the Global Design Center.

Education

Kabaň studied industrial design at the

Academy of Fine Arts and Design The Academy of Fine Arts and Design (, also known by the acronym ALUO), is an art academy and institution based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia, starting from 1991. He graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, London, UK in 1997.

References

External links

Auto CZ

Who's Where: Jozef Kaban appointed Head of Škoda Auto Design
1973 births Living people People from Námestovo Slovak engineers Slovak automobile designers Škoda people BMW designers {{Slovakia-bio-stub