Not only is good help hard to find, but apparently, it's hard to keep. Reports from the German magazine auto, motor und sport have Karim Habib departing BMW. Habib has been BMW's Chief of Design since 2012.
According to auto, motor und sport, Habib had an issue with the reliability of the vehicles for which he had been responsible for designing. This is the second time in the last ten years that the talented designer left BMW. In 2009, after working for BMW for eleven years, Habib moved over to Mercedes-Benz. While there, he designed the Mercedes-Benz concept F800 Style, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010. Habib's stint at Mercedes-Benz lasted only two years before he returned to Munich and the BMW fold.
A Canadian citizen who was born in Lebanon in 1971 and educated in Canada, Switzerland, and the U.S., Habib arrived at BMW the first time in 1998, where he worked on the interior of the E60 5 Series Sedan under Chris Bangle and Adrian van Hooydonk, whom he eventually succeeded in 2012 as BMW's design boss.
Habib was instrumental in the design of the first BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, the X3, the X6, and the F01 7 Series Sedan. He was also the guiding force behind the BMW CS Concept in 2007, the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage and 3.0 CSL Hommage R in 2015, and the BMW Vision Next 100 Concept that was unveiled at BMW's 100th birthday party in 2016.
The loss of its design chief has to be keenly felt at BMW, especially since in the past year it has also seen the departure of the head of design for BMW i, Benoit Jacob, who led the design effort for the BMW i3 and i8. Also recently out the door was Anders Warming, former head of BMW exterior design and most recently boss of design for Mini. Both Warming and Jacob left for new design jobs: Warming at Borgward and Jacob at Chinese EV startup Future Mobility. We have no information on where Karim Habib is headed next.—Scott Blazey
[Photo courtesy of BMW AG.]
