Karim-Antoine Habib is the new design chief of BMW cars and with him a new era seems to have begun. He has replaced Adrain Van Hooydonk who has been promoted to be the Vice President of BMW Design. Habib has designed the BMW 7 Series that remained the talk of the town since its launch in 2008. The Lebanon born Canada based designer joined BMW first in 1998 and after a decade went with Mercedes Benz. This is his second spell with BMW after remaining with the rival for two years.

Auto industry experts believe that Habib taking the Design Chief’s post is a significant development for the German car maker and it will help it sustain its dominance in the premium car segment worldwide. Habib too has reportedly expressed his delight over his appointment as the Design chief of BMW and has also said that he has a responsibility and opportunity to handle a great team that designs the future face of BMW cars. Notably, BMW invests a lot in the designing of its cars but all its cars have a characteristic front and front kidney shaped grille. Apart from the 7 Series, Habib also has had a contribution in the designing the BMW 1 Series and the new BMW 3 Series cars which were greatly appreciated for their elegance and dynamics. He has also made some significant design changes to the cars designed by BMW’s car designer Chris Bangle.

After his studies, Habib studied interior and exterior design and later became the team leader of the design team of BMW. He later also single handedly seen the exterior design department. Meanwhile, Adrain Van Hooydonk has also expressed his delight over the appointment of Habib and has said that Habib will be able to handle the demanding task of adding elegance and dynamics to the BMW cars in an efficient way.