The Infiniti vehicles of tomorrow will sport a Canadian touch, after the company announced it has hired former chief of design at BMW Karim Habib to take over as its new director of design, starting July 1.
A graduate of the Mechanical Engineering program at Montreal’s McGill University and of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Habib will work out of Infiniti’s technical centre in Atsugi, Japan, where he will head the various design teams located around the world (Beijing, San Diego and London).
The newly-appointed Senior Vice President Global Design for Nissan, Alfonso Albaisa, said about Karim Habib, “During his career as a designer and a leader of global teams he always created modern and inspiring designs." He added, “Karim is very skilled at capturing the heart and passion of a brand while at the same time giving each design its unique character.”
Among Habib’s creations are designs for the BMW X1 and the BMW X2 and CSL Homage concepts. He worked as well on the current Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the new smart car.