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.

Dirk van Braeckel
Born (1958-02-19) 19 February 1958 (age 66)
NationalityBelgian
EducationRoyal College of Art
OccupationCar designer
EmployerAudi

Career

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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]

Cars

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Bentley Continental GT

Awards

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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]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Bentley design director Dirk van Braeckel awarded". carbodydesign.com. 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  2. ^ a b "Dirk van Braeckel receives top Belgian award". conceptcar.co.uk. 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  3. ^ a b c "Dirk van Braeckel". Business Week. 2005-05-30. Archived from the original on 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  4. ^ "World of Bentley". Bentley. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  5. ^ Condon, Josh. "Bentley Mulsanne: The famed British saloon builder replaces the Arnage with an all-new stunner". MSN Autos. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Archived 11 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Damian, Alex (31 May 2006). "Bentley Continental Flying Spur". Top Speed. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  7. ^ GRITZINGER, Bob (6 March 2007). "2008 Bentley Brooklands Coupe Big two-door captures company's racing heritage". Automotive News. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  8. ^ Fowler, Steve. "Bentley SUV to get new look". Auto Express. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
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