Dirk van Braeckel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 February 1958 |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Education | Royal College of Art |
| Occupation | Car designer |
| Employer | Audi |
Dirk van Braeckel (born 19 February 1958 in Deinze), [1] is a Belgian car designer. He is known for the designing of various models for Volkswagen Group, especially for the Bentley brand.
Born in Deinze, [1] after leaving school, van Braeckel studied electrical engineering, [2] before joining Ford as an apprentice car designer in Cologne, West Germany. [1] Ford then agreed to sponsor him undertake a degree in car design at the Royal College of Art, London. [3]
On graduation, he joined Audi in 1984, working on external design [1] including the Audi A8 concept and Audi A3. [4] In 1993, Volkswagen Group boss Ferdinand Piëch personally chose him to be the design head for Volkswagen's newly purchased Škoda Auto division, where he revised the entire model line-up, [3] designing the Octavia and Fabia models. [1]
After Volkswagen purchased Bentley in 1998 from Vickers plc, van Braeckel joined the British-based company in August 1999 as Director of Design and Styling. His brief was to design a car that could sell in higher volumes than the $240,000 Bentley Arnage model. Van Braeckel designed the Bentley Continental GT, which in 2004 sold 5,983 units, exceeding forecasts by 62%, [3] and in 2009 the Bentley Mulsanne which was designed by him was launched. [5]
In 2007, van Braeckel was awarded the laureate of Antwerp's Christophe Plantin Prize, which honours Belgian citizens whose cultural, artistic or scientific activities contribute to the country's prestige abroad. [2] In 2008, van Braeckel was awarded the European Automotive Design Award by Designers (Europe). [1]
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Bentley has been a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and consolidated under VW's premium brand arm Audi since 2022.
Škoda Auto a.s., often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became state owned in 1948. After 1991, it was gradually privatized to the German Volkswagen Group, becoming a partial subsidiary in 1994 and a wholly owned subsidiary in 2000.
The Bentley Arnage is a full-size high performance luxury car manufactured by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England, from 1998 to 2009. The Arnage and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the spring of 1998. They were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980.
Volkswagen Group China is a division of the German automotive concern Volkswagen Group in the People's Republic of China.
Automobile was an American automobile magazine published by the Motor Trend Group. A group of former employees of Car and Driver led by David E. Davis founded Automobile in 1986 with support from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, using the credo No Boring Cars.Automobile distinguished itself as more of a lifestyle magazine than the other automotive publications, an editorial theme that Davis greatly expanded upon from his tenure as the editor of Car and Driver, though it was a sister publication to Motor Trend.
The Škoda Fabia is a supermini car produced by Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 1999. It is the successor of the Škoda Felicia, which was discontinued in 2001. The Fabia was available in hatchback, estate and saloon body styles at launch, and since 2007, the second generation is offered in hatchback and estate versions. The third generation Fabia was launched in 2015, and the fourth in 2021.
The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, and is considered an important major international auto show.
Luc Donckerwolke is a Belgian automotive designer, president, and chief creative officer of the Hyundai Motor Group and the Genesis automotive brand. Prior to joining the Hyundai Motor Group, he was the design director at Volkswagen Group's Bentley, Lamborghini, Škoda, and Audi brands. In 2022, a jury panel of 102 journalists among 33 countries named Donckerwolke the World Car Person of the Year for significantly impacting the automotive industry.
The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It consists of two separate fairs, that subdivided in 1991. While the IAA MOBILITY displays passenger vehicles, motorcycles and bikes, the IAA TRANSPORTATION specializes in commercial vehicles. Before the separation, the show was held solely at the Messe Frankfurt.
Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, Beijing Motor Show or Auto China is an auto show held biennially in Beijing, China since 1990. China is currently the largest auto market in the world.
SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., formerly known as Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. is an automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Anting, Shanghai, China and a joint venture between Volkswagen Group and SAIC Motor. It was founded in 1984 and produces cars under the Volkswagen, Škoda and Audi marques. It is the second automobile manufacturing joint venture in China after American Motors and the first German car manufacturer to enter China.
The Volkswagen Group MQB platform is the company's strategy for shared modular design construction of its transverse, front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout automobiles. It was first introduced in the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 in late 2012. Volkswagen spent roughly $8bn developing this new platform and the cars employing it. The platform underpins a wide range of cars from the supermini class to the mid size SUV class. MQB allows Volkswagen to assemble any of its cars based on this platform across all of its MQB ready factories. This allows the Volkswagen group flexibility to shift production as needed between its different factories. Beginning in 2012, Volkswagen Group marketed the strategy under the code name MQB, which stands for Modularer Querbaukasten, translating from German to "Modular Transversal Toolkit" or "Modular Transverse Matrix". MQB is one strategy within VW's overall MB program which also includes the similar MLB strategy for vehicles with longitudinal engine orientation.
Škoda Auto India Pvt Ltd. has been operating in India since November 2001 as a subsidiary of Škoda Auto, one of the fastest growing car manufacturers in Europe. It has set up a modern manufacturing facility in Shendra near Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The facility is spread across 300,000 m2. The company has a network of 200 outlets across the country.
The Bentley Mulsanne is a full-size luxury car that was manufactured by Bentley from 2010 to 2020. The car is named after the Mulsanne Straight of the Le Mans racing circuit, where Bentley have raced many of its cars throughout history. Designed to replace the Rolls-Royce based Arnage, the Mulsanne was the first flagship car to be independently designed by Bentley Motors since W.O. Bentley's 8 litre model in 1930.
Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited is the wholly owned Indian subsidiary of German automotive manufacturing company Volkswagen Group.
Bentley Crewe, also named the Pyms Lane site after the street it is located on; is the headquarters and design and manufacturing centre of Bentley Motors Limited on the outskirts of Crewe, Cheshire, England. The site covers an area of 521,111 m2 (5,609,190 sq ft), of which 166,930 m2 (1,796,800 sq ft) is indoors.
The Rolls-Royce–Bentley L-series V8 engine is an engine introduced in 1959. Built in Crewe, it was used on most Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles in the four decades after its introduction and was used in the Bentley Mulsanne until 2020.
The Bentley EXP 9 F is a concept car produced by Bentley and first shown to the public at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and is the concept SUV for the Bentayga.
The Volkswagen Bratislava Plant is an automotive factory and co-located test track owned by Volkswagen Group in Bratislava, Slovakia.
The 2014 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile or 2014 Paris Motor Show took place from 4 October to 19 October 2014 on 'Automobile and Fashion' theme.
  | This Belgian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |