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David Hilton (auto designer)

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American automobile designer
David Hilton 2018
NIO EP9 side view
NIO EP9 development team with Hilton (far right) and Nelson Piquet Jr. and Oliver Turvey - Misplaced Pages
SPECTRE production super car

David Hilton is an American/German automotive designer working internationally.

Hilton was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. From 1991 until 2000, he was a designer and chief designer for Ford Motor Company in Detroit, England, Brazil, Japan and Germany. His most notable automotive contributions include the fastest electric vehicle in the world, the NIO EP9, the most aerodynamic concept to date, the GAC ENO.146 which won the coveted IF DESIGN AWARD, the BENTLEY Bentayga SUV, the Ford Focus RS, the Ford S-MAX (2007 Car of the Year), and the Ford F-150. From 2000 through 2011 he ran the successful European based design firm Motorcity Europe, where he oversaw and created the designs of the SPECTRE and MC1 super cars, as well as working on the Infiniti Emerg-e concept car. In 2012 he was appointed Head of Exterior Design for Bentley Motors in England, being responsible for the Bentley GT3, and the Bentley SUV Production Bentayga vehicle. In May 2015 he was hired as the Senior Design Director at Nio (previously NEXTEV), where he worked on this all new brand and was Design Director of the NIO EP9 supercar. During 2018-2020, David Hilton was hired as the Advanced Design Director Shanghai & Design Strategy Director at GAC R&D. based in Shanghai. Since January 2021, Mr. Hilton works as the Senior Director Global Design and Brand at the luxury EV maker Karma Automotive in southern California. Hilton is also known for his automotive and figurative artwork, plus lecturing activities.

In addition to his excellence in the automotive field, he also is a master of martial arts since childhood.

Career

Ford

Starting his career in 1991 at Ford Design in Detroit within the International Advanced Design Studio, under the leadership of Jack Telnack, Hilton was sent to various design studios around the world. These included assignments at Ford of Brazil, Ford/Mazda in Japan, Ford of Germany, Ford of Britain, and the Ford Truck design studios, where he worked on such projects as the Focus ST, Ford F-150, Ford Ranger, VW Gol, Ford Mondeo, CMAX among others. As the chief designer on the 2002 Focus RS project, based in the UK, Hilton worked under the then President Ford of Europe Dr. Martin Leach. The RS was launched at the 2000 Geneva auto show with great acclaim. Hilton continued to work at Ford of Germany as a consultant from 2000-2006, working on such pivotal projects as the 2007 European car of the year Ford SMAX.

Consulting Years

From 2000 until 2012, David Hilton guided the successful European design consultancy MotorCityEurope. Clients included Hyundai, KIA, TATA, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Nissan, McLaren, Citroen, VW, Ford, according to the website.

The company offered both automotive and product design solutions with projects such as the Infiniti Emerg-e concept car, the SPECTRE supercar, the Mazda Superlite, UIUX designs, sporting goods, and even a baby stroller.

Bentley Motors

Bentley Bentayga SUV
Bentley GT3 R

In early 2012, Hilton joined Bentley Motors as 'Head of Exterior Design' in England. Production development programs included the Bentley GT3 (see launch interview), the Bentley Bentayga, and the Mulsanne Convertible.

NIO

In 2015, Hilton became one of the first few employees of the now very successful China based Electric Vehicle startup Nio, which at the time was called NEXTEV. He began working once again under the then new co-President of NIO, Dr. Martin Leach. In 2015, the design team leaders consisted of Kris Tomasson, Juho Suh, David Hilton, and was based in Munich and London. During these early days, the design team created and developed the NIO brand identity, logo, story and product plans. The first product to be launched in November 2016 was the world record breaking Nio EP9. See making of film here. Both the NIO brand and the EP9 vehicle were launched together on November 21, 2016 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Following the successful launch of the NIO brand, the Nio ES8 was launched in April 2017 at the Shanghai Auto Show. Other key concepts and vehicles such as the NIO EVE and Nio ES6 soon followed. Hilton remained as the Senior Design Director of NIO before later moving to GAC in Shanghai, China.

References

  1. Oldie (23 January 2017), NIO EP9 — The making of the world's fastest electric car, retrieved 25 June 2022
  2. A&d (2 January 2020). "GAC ENO.146, DESIGNED BY THE WIND". Auto&Design. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  3. "GAC Eno.146 concept - Interior Motives Spring 2020". cardesignnews.h5mag.com. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. ENO.146 Interior design, retrieved 25 June 2022
  5. "Bentayga". en. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  6. Zach Bowman, "Bentley hires David Hilton", "Autoblog", 9 February 2012
  7. Car of the Year, "Car of the Year 2007: Ford S-Max wins close contest", "Car of the Year", 20 November 2006
  8. Bloomberg Business Week, "Design Services: Motorcity Europe", "BusinessWeek.com", 4 December 2005
  9. Anthony Ingram, "New Bentley Designer, David Hilton's past: Motorcity Europe", "Motor Authority", 11 February 2012
  10. CarDesignNews, "Design Services: Motorcity Europe" Archived 10 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, "CarDesignNews.com", 30 November 2005
  11. "Home". www.motorcityeurope.com. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  12. Autocar, "Britain's Secret Supercar", "Autocar", 22 January 2008
  13. Bentley Motors, Bentley Press Release, 9 February 2012
  14. David Jolley, "Bentley names ex-Ford Designer Hilton to lead Exterior Design", "Automotive News Europe", 12 February 2012
  15. Owen Ready, "Who is Where: David Hilton appointed Head of Exterior Design for Bentley" Archived 10 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, "CarDesignNews.com", 9 February 2012
  16. Phil Patton, "David Hilton to lead Exterior Design for Bentley", "The New York Times", 9 February 2012
  17. AutoMotoTV, "GT3 Interview with David Hilton", "AutoMotoTV", 27 September 2012
  18. "Design Story: NIO EP9 Supercar: The Brand Ambassador". FormTrends.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  19. Morl, Maxine; 2018-09-20T14:54:00. "David Hilton moves to GAC Shanghai". Car Design News. Retrieved 2 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. A&d (3 March 2021). "DAVID HILTON NEW HEAD OF KARMA AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN". Auto&Design. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  21. 2022-02-17T16:57:00. "Car Design Dialogues North America: Inside the Karma Automotive studio". Car Design News. Retrieved 25 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. McLachlan2021-03-02T11:42:00, James. "David Hilton joins Karma Automotive". Car Design News. Retrieved 25 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. "Home". davidhiltondesign.com. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  24. Eric Gallina, "Celebrated Automotive Artists collaborate on German exhibition", "Form Trends", 31 October 2012
  25. Vasiliy Kurkoff and Asia Vildanova, "Interview: David Hilton", "CarDesignCommunity", 29 April 2013
  26. Marco Traverso, "MCE Design Workshops", "CarBodyDesign", 4 December 2013
  27. "2012 Bentley Continental GT3 Concept @ Top Speed". Top Speed. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  28. 1,341bhp Nio EP9 sets new Nürburgring electric car lap record, retrieved 26 June 2022
  29. New EV Hypercar sets lap record at the Ring - Video, retrieved 26 June 2022
  30. Winton, Neil. "China's NextEV Launches NIO Brand And World's Fastest Electric Car". Forbes. Retrieved 26 June 2022.

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