Tesla poaches hot Mazda Furai designer
Author: Chris Barker
Published: 07 August 2008
Responsible for Mazda’s ‘Nagare’ future car design philosophising of late, top design bod Franz von Holzhausen is the golden boy of the automotive design world. Fact.As such, Tesla are hoping to cash in by ensuring that he applies his almost Midas touch to future styling implications to the world’s first electric supercar – the Tesla Roadster – and all other climate-preserving vehicles it has in the pipeline. Which by all accounts sounds like fiction, were it not for the fact that it is true.Jumping straight out of the Mazda frying pan and right into the heat of the Tesla electric car action is Franz von Holzhausen, the curiously unAmerican-sounding, all-American guy who heads up the Japanese car makers’ North American art corps. Or rather, did.
Acknowledged as being instrumental in the development of the Mazda Furai concept car of late - alongside of finding the time to add more than his two penneth-worth to the Ryuga, Hazaki, Taiki and Kabura project - von Holzhausen has been charged with headhunting his own specialist team of designers who’ll work with him at the Tesla HQ in Los Angeles.The only teething problem being he’ll have to have a desk cleared for him somewhere in Tesla’s office – hypothetically-speaking, behind the water dispenser and between some potted plants - as the all-electric car company doesnt actually have a fully-fledged design studio as yet.
Described as the rising star of the automotive styling scene, von Holzhausen’s decision to betroth his future to Tesla has been further described as ‘bold’. Which as we all know is a polite way of saying ‘foolish’, as certain quarters of the automotive industry question the impact Tesla will make with its ambition to become a seriously-taken volume car manufacturer.Clearly moved by his integral input in Volkswagens’ Microbus concept (2001) - the manufacturer with whom he served his apprenticeship - and latterly on the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Chevrolet SS whilst under the wing of General Motors, it’s not difficult to see why he’s in such demand, and topped Tesla’s most wanted list.And Tesla for its part though could yet have the last laugh as it steams ahead with its equally as ambitious plans for the immediate future. Just as soon as they’ve handed von Holzhauesen some crayons and a sketch pad and assured him that he’s done the right thing that is.
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