|
News comes of a large shake-up as one of the leading
names in international car design, Wolfgang Egger,
leaves Alfa Romeo as Chief of their Style Centre, to
work as Head of Design at
Audi. Wolfgang Egger will now report directly under his
former Alfa Romeo boss, Walter de’ Silva, who recently
replaced Volkswagen’s Chief Designer Murat Gunak,
to become Head of Volkswagen
Group Design.
Audi released a statement yesterday to announce the news
that Egger had joined the German carmaker: "Wolfgang Josef Egger (44) will become Audi Group Head
of Design on 1 May 2007," the press release read. "Egger will thus be succeeding Walter Maria de’ Silva,
who took over as Head of Design at the Volkswagen Group on 1 February. "In
refilling this position, the company with the four rings is strengthening its
independence in matters of design and is thereby confirming the significance of
this Audi core competence," commented Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of
Management at Audi AG.
Egger’s appointment means that the Audi Group design team is again complete. The
Audi brand Design department is headed by Stefan Sielaff, who was appointed to
this position in March 2006," the statement concluded.
Born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1963, Egger followed car
design from a very early age, with help of car magazines
and scale models. However, he had only one wish: to
design for Alfa Romeo.
During studying at the Milan-based International College
of Arts and Sciences in 1988, Wolfgang Egger met Mario
Favilla, then the internship
coordinator at the Alfa Romeo Style Center.
Favilla quickly became
impressed with Egger’s passion for the Alfa Romeo marque, and directly took
him onboard.Egger recounts, “Through the internship my passion
turned into a profession. I saw and learned how a design
studio works in reality. Normally the transition from a
design study to working in the industry is quite a
difficult period, but at the Alfa Romeo design studios
in Arese the trainees become
completely integrated. They work together with the
designers, they see how things are discussed and
modified, they exchange ideas
and learn from experienced model makers how you can go
about with materials. My internship project was about
the history of ‘granturismo’,
a sector in which Alfa Romeo has always stood out. I was
taken on as a professional designer in 1989, and have
since worked from start to finish on new projects.”
|
 |
|
Wolfgang Egger first came into the international limelight with
the presentation of the beautiful Nuvola concept car of 1997 which was presented at
that year’s Paris Motor Show. |
|
 |
|
The Alfa 8C Spider
prototype was awarded the "Best Concept Car" award
at the Ville d'Este Concours d'Eleganza last year;
here Wolfgang Egger receives the trophy from BMW's
Head of Design, Chris Bangle. |
|
|
 |
|
Wolfgang Egger with the
Alfa 8C Competizione Spider concept at the Ville
d'Este Concours d'Eleganza last year; a stylish
concept sports car that was evolved from the Alfa 8C
Competizione project. |
|
 |
|
Wolfgang Egger's most remarkable work at Alfa Romeo is undoubtedly
the stunning 8C Competizione,
a car which when launched at the Frankfurt Motor
Show in 2003 became an instant design classic, and
perhaps the most desirable exotic car of recent
times. |
|
|
Wolfgang
Egger first came into the international limelight with
the presentation of the beautiful
Nuvola concept car of 1997 which was presented at
that year’s Paris Motor Show. Since then he has also
been recognised with the award-winning Alfa 156, 166 and
147 models under the leadership of Walter de’ Silva.
Following in the footsteps of Walter de’ Silva, Wolfgang Egger
left Alfa Romeo in 1998 to work at Spanish brand SEAT, where he
covered the role of the Exterior Chief Designer. After a
short period spent at Fiat Auto's Lancia
division,
he returned to Alfa Romeo to eventually become Chief of
the Style
Center.
Within this role he oversaw the development of the new
range of Alfa Romeo cars which have recently been
presented: the Alfa 159, 159
Sportwagon, Brera and
Spider; as well as the cars which are scheduled to be
launched in the near future: the Alfa Junior, 149 and
169 flagship.
Egger described his responsibility at the Style
Center
as, “bringing ahead the spirit of Alfa Romeo’s
historical importance. This means a continuous rereading
of our past, which is necessary to maintain a real
conformity to our tradition in our aesthetic philosophy
projected towards the future.”
His most remarkable work at Alfa Romeo is undoubtedly
the stunning 8C Competizione,
a car which was designed entirely in-house. When it
was first launched at the Frankfurt IAA Motor Show in
2003 it became an instant design classic, and perhaps the
most desirable exotic sports car of recent times. The 500-unit
limited edition Alfa 8C Competizione
will go into production at the
Maserati factory later this year, with first
deliveries to select owners in September.
|
|
|
|
