Updated 3/17/17:
Via Autonews: TOKYO -- Infiniti, Nissan Motor's premium brand, named Karim Habib, former global design chief for BMW, as the brand's new chief designer, effective July 1.
Habib will replace Alfonso Albaisa, who will be promoted to lead Nissan's global design. Habib will report to Albaisa.
Habib, a Lebanese-Canadian, studied engineering in Canada's McGill University before attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California prior to joining BMW as an interior designer. In 2012, he was promoted to head of design at the brand.
The executive will be based in Nissan's technical center in Atsugi, Japan, and lead Infiniti's design teams in Japan, Beijing, San Diego and London.
Original story 1/18/17:
No official announcement has yet been made by BMW, but
Auto Motor Und Sport reports that Karim Habib, Head of BMW Design, has left the company.
Habib got his first break in BMW in 1998 working in designing the exterior of the BMW 7 Series. He left the company in 2009 to join Mercedes until he returned to BMW in 2011 as Head of Exterior Design. In January 2012 he succeeded Adrian von Hooydonk as Head of BMW Design and has been serving in this role until his departure.
No replacement has yet been named.