Autoblog

Audi seems to have grown particularly fond of Alfa Romeo's styling, and as a result they have been poaching the Italian marque's designers. The first to make the move northwards was Walter de' Silva, and now, Wolfgang Egger is following suit.

Egger is leaving Alfa Romeo to become the new head of Audi's Style Center, the job formerly held by his old boss Walter de Silva, who moves up to Head of Volkswagen Group Design.

During his tenure at Alfa Romeo, Egger was responsible for some beautiful creations, most notably the drop-dead gorgeous 8C Competizione and the Nuvola concept car from the 1997 Paris show. He had a large hand in designing the head-turning 159 sedan and wagon, Brera and Spyder and he contributed to the upcoming 149, 169 and Junior projects. In bouncing back and forth between various design posts in the Volkswagen and Fiat empires, he also worked on Seat and Lancia designs. While together at Alfa Romeo, Egger and de Silva worked together in penning the current 156, 166 and 147 models.

Alfa Romeo's loss is Audi's gain. It'll be interesting to follow how the shifts will impact the designs of future models at both companies.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

Audi has raided the castle at Wolfsburg and changes are in store. New boss Martin Winterkorn has ordered that the new Scirocco, Golf and Passat be presented for scrutiny. Rounding out the new royal court at Volkswagen will be a coterie of raiders from Ingolstadt, among them Walter de'Silva. de'Silva will be tweezing the look of the new cars until Winterkorn is satsified. Also, the petrol-powered V10 returns to the Touareg, giving back a unique offering and hopefully enticing sales. We're not sure what Mr. Winterkorn doesn't like about the styling of the new cars, but we're hopeful that de'Silva will be allowed to stretch his legs and stun us when the re-designs start trickling out. As Winterkorn consolidates and centralizes power in Wolfsburg, we're sure to see bigger changes coming out of Volkswagen and its brands. We're all for it - what's the worst they can do, screw up? Judging from de'Silva's portfolio, that's not bloody likely.

[Source: Germancarblog]