FAW Corporation announced the appointment of Giles Taylor as its Global Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) on Sept 7. Taylor will chiefly be responsible for creating design strategies and style concepts for the FAW luxury brand Hongqi.
Taylor, who graduated in 1992 from the vehicle design discipline of the renowned Royal College of Art in London, has rich experience in super-luxury car design.
Giles Taylor, Global Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer of FAW Corporation
He started work as a designer for Automobiles Citroen, creating the exterior designs for Xsara and the popular C3. In 1997 he moved to the British luxury marque Jaguar Cars Ltd. During his 13-year career at Jaguar Cars he has held the position of Chief Designer for the current XJ saloon and the previous XK sportscar.
In 2012, Taylor joined Rolls-Royce Motorcars as Director of Design. He led the design of many successful cars including the drop-head Dawn, iconic Phantom VIII limousine and the highly acclaimed Cullinan SUV.
Upon becoming a formal member of the FAW Corporation, Taylor said: "I am very much looking forward to embarking on an exciting new career path with FAW. Hongqi, as the oldest and most famous Chinese car brand, carries with it a deeply significant and diverse cultural history. There are many inspirational elements surrounding the marque with which to create fresh, modern vehicles for the new era."
"I look forward to working with the FAW executive team to deliver this fascinating mission for Hongqi as well as exciting future products for the FAW Corporation," he added.
Xu Liuping, Chairman of China FAW Group Corporation
Xu Liuping, Chairman of China FAW Group Corporation, welcomed Taylor's arrival and said China's auto industry is facing an excellent opportunity of setting not only a benchmark but also a precedent within the global auto industry.
"We need a more internationalized, specialized and diversified team with a more globalized mind and vision in order to deeply fuse China's superior culture with global advanced cultures, modern fashion designs, leading-edge science and technologies, and fine-grained emotional experiences into brilliant products and services," Xu noted.
(Executive editor: Hao Wen)