Ex-VW brand design chief Kaban to lead MG's global design

Volkswagen brand's former design chief, Jozef Kaban, has joined SAIC where he will be in charge of styling cars for the Chinese automaker's MG brand.

In a statement, SAIC said: "Jozef Kaban will significantly increase our design expertise and increase the level of internationalization to accelerate SAIC Motors' global market entry."

Kaban will have specific responsibility for developing MG's global design language, MG Motor UK said in a statement.

Kaban, 51, a Slovak national, is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Art in London. He started his career in 1999 at VW Group, where he worked for Audi, Bugatti and Skoda on projects including the Bugatti Veyron supercar and Audi A5 coupe.

He also worked for BMW Group where he was Rolls-Royce's head of design for six months.

Kaban took charge of VW brand design in 2020 but was replaced by Bentley's design boss Andreas Mindt just over 12 months ago.

MG is the biggest-selling Chinese brand in Europe. It plans to increase sales to more than 300,000 cars in Europe in 2024. Last year the brand sold 231,684 units in the region, according to figures from market analyst Dataforce.