Stefan Sielaff, a former head of design at Bentley, has been appointed head of global design at the Geely Auto Group.
Sielaff succeeds Peter Horbury, who will move to UK sports-car maker Lotus as senior vice president of design, Geely said in a statement.
Horbury, an Engllishman, has been Geely's head of design since 2011 after holding top jobs with Volvo and Ford's Premier Automotive Group. At Lotus, which is owned by Geely, he will work at alongside Russell Carr, who remains Lotus design director.
Horbury, 71, hinted in an interview with Automotive News Europe in March that he was keen on switching to Lotus as he reduced his workload at Geely.
"I must say the Lotus projects that we have started, I am going to find it hard to let them go. They are so exciting," he said. "You can imagine that having the chance to design a new Lotus is something I would like to stay with a little while longer.