Career in the automotive industry
Before starting development of W Motors, Debbas worked as a designer for Land Rover [10] and Aston Martin. [10] [11]
In 2009, Debbas launched Wolf Design and Innovation Group (WDI Group), of which he was listed as Executive Head of Design. [12] WDI Group worked on a variety of projects including boats, furniture and interior design, consumer goods, and graphic/web design, [13] and was active in Beirut and Paris. [14]
He began development of W Motors and design of the Lykan in 2006, [7] and in 2008 had several design projects sponsored by the European Union. [15] W Motors was officially founded in 2012 [16] with the launch of the Lykan HyperSport. [11] It is the first Middle Eastern car manufacturer, making Debbas the first automotive executive in the Middle East. [17] [16] According to Debbas, the Lykan HyperSport was deliberately extravagant because:
If I had launched an affordable car from the Middle East, nobody would have talked about it… But when you create a shock by selling a $3.4m car – and back in 2013 it was the most expensive car in the world – people will talk, whether it’s negative or positive. [18]
He contributed to the design of the ICONIQ Model 7. [19] The Fenyr SuperSport followed with production beginning in 2018, but was not designed by Debbas. [20]
Debbas launched the W Motors consultancy division in 2019, which now makes up 70% of the company's business. [18] As of 2020, he owns shares and is a director of W Motors Automotive Group Holding Limited. [21] He continues as the CEO and chairman of W Motors S.A.L. [8]
