Gac has announced the appointment of Benoit Jacob as Executive Director of Design. In this role, Benoit will work closely with Fan Zhang, Vice President of Gac’s Research and Development Centre, to guide the Chinese group’s strategy and design.
Benoit Jacob has two decades of experience in the field of automotive design, with key positions in some of Europe’s largest car manufacturers. Benoit graduated in Transport Design from the European campus of the Art Center before starting his career at Renault in 1994, where he helped design models such as the Sport Spider, the Fiftie concept car and the Laguna. In 2001, Benoit joined Volkswagen, where he worked to create Audi’s Advanced Design Studio in Munich. In 2004, Benoit joined the BMW Group, where he led the design of several major vehicles, including the F30 3 Series, F32/F33 6 Series, F07 5 Series GT, Z4 and M1 Hommage concept. He then became responsible for the BMW i sub-brand in 2010. In 2013, Benoit’s role expanded to Head of BMW Advanced Design and Vice President of BMW Group Design. In 2016, Benoit joined Byton as co-founder and senior vice-president of design, and in 2021 he took on the role of vice-president of design at Nio.
