Dirk van Braeckel (born 19 February 1958 in Deinze),[1] is a Belgian car designer. He is known for the designing of various models for Volkswagen Group, especially for the Bentley brand.
Dirk van Braeckel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 February 1958 |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Education | Royal College of Art |
| Occupation | Car designer |
| Employer | Audi |
Career
editBorn in Deinze,[1] after leaving school, van Braeckel studied electrical engineering,[2] before joining Ford as an apprentice car designer in Cologne, West Germany.[1] Ford then agreed to sponsor him undertake a degree in car design at the Royal College of Art, London.[3]
On graduation, he joined Audi in 1984, working on external design[1] including the Audi A8 concept and Audi A3.[4] 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,[3] designing the Octavia and Fabia models.[1]
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%,[3] and in 2009 the Bentley Mulsanne which was designed by him was launched.[5]
Cars
edit
- Audi A8 concept, 1994
- Audi A3, 1996
- Škoda Octavia, 1996
- Škoda Fabia, 1999
- Škoda Octavia, 2004
- Bentley Continental GT, 2004
- Bentley Flying Spur,[6] 2005
- Bentley Azure, 2006
- Bentley Brooklands,[7] 2007
- Bentley Mulsanne, 2009
- Bentley EXP 9 F, 2012[8]
Awards
editIn 2007, van Braeckel was awarded the laureate of Antwerp's Christophe Plantin Prize, which honours Belgian citizens whose cultural, artistic or scientific activities contribute to the country's prestige abroad.[2] In 2008, van Braeckel was awarded the European Automotive Design Award by Designers (Europe).[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Bentley design director Dirk van Braeckel awarded". carbodydesign.com. 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ a b "Dirk van Braeckel receives top Belgian award". conceptcar.co.uk. 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ a b c "Dirk van Braeckel". Business Week. 2005-05-30. Archived from the original on 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ "World of Bentley". Bentley. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
- ^ Condon, Josh. "Bentley Mulsanne: The famed British saloon builder replaces the Arnage with an all-new stunner". MSN Autos. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Archived 11 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Damian, Alex (31 May 2006). "Bentley Continental Flying Spur". Top Speed. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
- ^ GRITZINGER, Bob (6 March 2007). "2008 Bentley Brooklands Coupe Big two-door captures company's racing heritage". Automotive News. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
- ^ Fowler, Steve. "Bentley SUV to get new look". Auto Express. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
External links
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