BEIJING -- China FAW Group, the automaker that developed the Red Flag limousine for Chairman Mao Zedong six decades ago, is tapping Giles Taylor, Rolls-Royce's former design chief, in an effort to revive ts Hongqi luxury brand.
Taylor, who helped create vehicles such as the seventh-generation Phantom and the Cullinan SUV for Rolls-Royce, will lead Red Flag's design team out of Munich, FAW said in a news release.
Taylor left his post as Rolls-Royce's director of design earlier this year.
FAW Group, which built the first Hongqi, Chinese for Red Flag, for Mao in 1958, began a new effort to revive the brand after Xu Liuping took over as chairman of the company last year. Xu aims to boost sales of the Red Flag vehicles to about 300,000 units a year.
In April at the Beijing auto show, Red Flag presented a sleek, two-door electric-car concept called E-Jing GT. The symbolically important brand used by elite Chinese government officials is rolling out more models, including the H5 midsize sedan.
Taylor will also lead design for the FAW auto brand, he said on his LinkedIn page.
After studying vehicle design at London's Royal College of Art, Taylor joined Citroen on graduating in 1992 and created the original concept for the exterior design of the Xsara, launched in 1996. In 1999, he moved to Jaguar, initially as design manager for the XJ interior.
Taylor joined Rolls-Royce in 2011 as head of exterior design from Jaguar. He was promoted to Rolls-Royce design director in 2012 following the retirement of Ian Cameron.
