Dirk van Braeckel

Dirk van Braeckel (born February 19, 1958 in Deinze),^[1] is a Belgian car designer, currently head of design at Bentley Motors.

Born in Deinze,^[1] after leaving school, van Braeckel studied electrical engineering,^[2] before joining Ford as an apprentice car designer in Cologne, West Germany.^[1] Ford then agreed to sponsor him undertake a degree in car design at the Royal College of Art, London.^[3]

On graduation, he joined Audi in 1984, working on external design.^[1] In 1993, Volkswagen Group boss Ferdinand Piech personally choose him to head design for VW's newly purchased Škoda Auto division, where he revised the entire model line-up,^[3] creating the Octavia and Fabia models.^[1]

After VW purchased Bentley in 1998 from Vickers plc, Piech again made van Braeckel chief designer. His brief was to create a second-car line that could sell in higher volumes than the $240,000 Bentley Arnage limo. Van Braeckel created the Bentley Continental GT, which in 2004 sold 5,983 units, exceeding forecasts by 62%.^[3]

In 2007, van Braeckel was awarded the laureate of Antwerp's Christophe Plantin Prize, which honours Belgian citizens whose cultural, artistic or scientific activities contribute to the country's prestige abroad.^[2] In 2008, van Braeckel was awarded the European Automotive Design Award by Designers (Europe).^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Bentley design director Dirk van Braeckel awarded". carbodydesign.com. 2008-02-06. http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2008/02/06-bentley-design-director-van-braeckel-awarded/. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Dirk van Braeckel receives top Belgian award". conceptcar.co.uk. 2007-10-09. http://www.conceptcar.co.uk/news/cardesignnews.php?newsid=86. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Dirk van Braeckel". Business Week. 2005-05-30. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935428.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 

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Name	Van Braeckel, Dirk
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Date of birth	1958-02-19
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