Last week, General Motors announced that it had attracted the designer of the F87 BMW M2 to lead its Advanced Design studio in Pasadena, bringing European influence to future American cars, and now the reverse has happened at McLaren. The British marque has poached a designer from an American company, appointing Kemal Curic as its Chief Design Officer, and that’s a big deal. Curic was at Ford since 2004 and not only led design for its luxury brand, Lincoln, but was also responsible for the styling of the S550 Mustang, and now he’ll be in charge of pretty much everything at McLaren, from the way its cars look when you first see them to the way they feel inside and how you interact with them through screens.
McLaren’s New Design Boss Has Big Shoes to Fill
Curic replaces Tobias Sühlmann, who went to Porsche at the beginning of this year. Sühlmann worked on the Solus GT and also spent time at Bugatti, Aston Martin, and Bentley, the latter where he helped design the Batur. But Curic isn’t stepping too far out of his comfort zone by moving to McLaren, as before he worked on the 2015 Mustang, he designed several European-market cars, including the Fiesta, Mondeo, Kuga, and third-generation Focus. At Lincoln, he led design for the Chinese-market Zephyr as well as America’s Nautilus and then the Navigator, so McLaren is gaining a designer who knows how to create cars that appeal to a wide variety of demographics.
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If design isn’t already too far along, Curic will have considerable input on the upcoming V8-powered McLaren SUV, which could either prove as successful as the Bentley Bentayga and help attract a whole new type of customer or be shunned and ignored as “not a true McLaren.” In other words, he’ll have his hands full, and not just with exteriors, either.
McLaren Is Undergoing Transformation
Curic’s role as McLaren Chief Design Officer will encompass exterior design, interiors, and CMF (color, material, and finish), as well as digital design, so he’ll effectively have final say on everything McLaren is working on as it tries to reinvent itself. Along with Sühlmann, McLaren lost CEO Michael Leiters to Porsche, with the latter being replaced by Nick Collins in 2025. Collins, Curic, and the rest of the McLaren leadership are overseeing a comeback plan that will be revealed in the summer, and this will include a replacement for the 750S and additional mid-engine supercars, but no EVs. Exciting times indeed.
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