Oliver Stefani becomes ŠKODA’s new Head of Design

• From 1 September 2017, Oliver Stefani will be responsible for design at ŠKODA AUTO
• ŠKODA AUTO CEO Bernhard Maier said, “Oliver Stefani has great creative potential. He will allow us to instigate the next development stage.”
• ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Technical Development Christian Strube, “Oliver Stefani is the perfect fit for our brand.”

Mladá Boleslav, 2 August 2017 – From 1 September, Oliver Stefani will be responsible for design at ŠKODA AUTO. Most recently, the 53-year-old was Head of Exterior Design for the Volkswagen brand. Stefani studied design in Braunschweig and Pasadena (California). Numerous Volkswagen brand production vehicles from the last ten years, as well as a number of concept cars, bear his signature.

“In recent years, ŠKODA’s design has developed extremely well. Most recently, we have also transferred the new and expressive design language to our SUV models,” said ŠKODA AUTO CEO Bernhard Maier. “And now, Oliver Stefani will instigate the next stage of development. He will design our cars to have even greater emotional resonance and will lead them into the era of digitalisation and the electrification of vehicle manufacturing. Oliver Stefani has great creative potential. I am looking forward to working with him,” continued Maier.

For the ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Technical Development Christian Strube, Stefani also represents the perfect choice. “I am convinced that Oliver Stefani will consistently continue to develop the ŠKODA brand’s new design language and successfully elevate it to the next level. His expertise will allow him to delight ŠKODA customers with future models. He is the perfect fit for the ŠKODA brand,” said Strube confidently.

In his career to date, Oliver Stefani has proven his ability on more than one occasion. Stefani started at Volkswagen in 2002. Many VW production cars from the last ten years and numerous concept cars bear his signature. He played a crucial role in developing the up!, Polo, Jetta, Tiguan and the current Golf models, as well as the ID show car family.

ŠKODA’s new Head of Design studied design in Braunschweig and Pasadena (California). In addition, he worked at the Design Center Europe in Sitges (Spain) for three years. His expertise fits in perfectly with the ŠKODA brand, with its numerous Simply Clever ideas and expressive, crystalline design language.