BMW’s Anders Warming to head MINI Design studio

Gert Volker Hildebrand has been at the helm of the MINI Design studio for 10 years, and over that time has been responsible for the complete design development of the born-again brand since January 2001.

As well as a number of MINI-based concepts, Mr Hildebrand’s latest works include the third-generation MINI Hatch, Cabrio, Clubman and Countryman. He was also responsible for the MINI Coupe and Roadster concepts that debuted in 2009 and are set for production in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Mr Hildebrand will be replaced on January 1 by Anders Warming, who is the head of exterior design at BMW Automobiles.

The 38-year-old Dane joined the BMW Group in 2005, and assumed his current role in 2007. Since then, the BMW Z4, 5 Series and the Concept 6 Series Coupe have been designed under his leadership.