Bentley names ex-Ford designer Hilton to lead exterior design
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Bentley has named veteran designer David Hilton as the brand's head of exterior design.
Hilton succeeds Raul Pires who has left Bentley, Volkswagen group's ultraluxury brand, to join the VW-owned design house Italdesign.
During a 20-year career in automotive design, Hilton has worked for Ford in Detroit and Germany, Mazda in Japan and as a designer for VW Autolatina in Brazil. Hilton was also chief designer at Ford Racing.
He joins Bentley from Motorcity Europe, a design company he founded in Cologne, Germany, in 2000.
A U.S. native, Hilton began his career with Ford in its Detroit advanced design studio in 1991
He will be based at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe, England, and will report to Dirk van Braeckel, Bentley's director of design and styling.
 | Hilton has 20 years design experience. |
Bentley boosted its global sales by 37 percent to 7,003 cars in 2011, helped by increasing demand for its models in China, North America and Germany.
You can reach David Jolley at djolley@crain.com.
