British Car Designers Are Being Snapped Up by Chinese Automakers

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese car companies with global ambitions are hiring designers from some of the most iconic names in the British auto world.

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., the company controlled by Volvo Car Group owner and billionaire Li Shufu, named Wayne Burgess as the head of a new design studio to be based in the U.K. manufacturing hub of Coventry, Geely said in a statement Friday. Burgess was the chief designer at Jaguar Land Rover and also worked at Aston Martin Lagonda.

Li isn’t the first Chinese auto titan to snap up British car design talent.

China FAW Group Corp., the carmaker that developed the Red Flag limousine for Chairman Mao Zedong six decades ago, last year hired Giles Taylor to lead its auto design team. Taylor helped create vehicles such as the Phantom VIII and the Cullinan SUV for Rolls-Royce.

Geely’s U.K. studio will expand to include 100 designers and support staff within the next five years and provide backup in-house design for its brands that include Proton and Lotus. Li is also the biggest shareholder of Mercedes Benz-maker, Daimler AG.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net, Emma O'Brien, Sam Nagarajan

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With assistance from Bloomberg