In a rather surprising move, Rolls-Royce announced today the departure of its head of design, Jozef Kaban. While the industry sees various high-ranking executives changing jobs constantly, rarely are their tenures cut so short. Kaban had only taken over the design of the British brand’s products in April, this year, making his stay in Goodwood one of the shortest in recent history. After just six months, the Slovakian designer decided to move on to other projects.
Rolls-Royce simply issued a statement earlier today confirming the news:
“Jozef Kabaň, Head of Design, has decided to leave Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the BMW Group with immediate effect to pursue other interests.”
The company also said an announcement about who is going to take over his role will be made in the near future. Jozef Kaban had joined Rolls-Royce this spring after leading the BMW core brand design division for a while.
Prior to coming to BMW, he was in charge of other interesting projects. He was the master behind the Bugatti Veyron and prior to that also worked for Audi and Skoda. Thus, considering his experience and former projects, such a departure is a surprise, without a doubt.
Rolls-Royce CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös said “Although Jozef has been with Rolls-Royce for a very short period we thank him for his input during his tenure. We wish him the best for the future.”
There’s no info as to who might take up the challenge of turning Rolls-Royce cars into electric models. This will, without a doubt, be an arduous task as Rolls-Royce is one of the most conservative brands out there when it comes to its design.
Nevertheless, The Goodwood people have always risen to the challenge and I’m sure they will do the same in the future, no matter who leads the design division.
