Stefan Sielaff is stepping down as Bentley design director and moving to Geely, the Chinese automotive group whose brands include Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Lynk&Co and many others. The German designer, after more than seven years at Bentley, having revolutionised its image and overseen the creation of cars such as the Bentayga, the British brand’s first SUV, will replace Peter Horbury and begin his work in Sweden at the Volvo Design Center. He then moved to Shanghai, China.
After earning a diploma in Industrial Design from the Hochschule in Munich in 1988 and a master’s degree in 1990 from the Royal College of Art in London, Stefan Sielaff began his career at Audi as an interior designer before becoming head of interior design in 1996. In 2002 he moved to the Daimler Group for three years as Design Director of Interior Competence Center and in 2005 returned to Audi as Head of Design until 2012. Since 2015 he has been Head of Bentley Design.
