Dirk van Braeckel
Encyclopedia
Dirk van Braeckel is a Belgian car designer, currently head of design at Bentley Motors.

Born in Deinze
Deinze
Deinze is a city and a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Deinze proper and the towns of Astene, Bachte-Maria-Leerne, Gottem, Grammene, Meigem, Petegem-aan-de-Leie, Sint-Martens-Leerne, Vinkt, Wontergem and Zeveren. On January 1,...

, after leaving school, van Braeckel studied electrical engineering, before joining Ford as an apprentice car designer in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

. Ford then agreed to sponsor him undertake a degree in car design at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

, London.

On graduation, he joined Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....

 in 1984, working on external design. In 1993, Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....

 boss Ferdinand Piech
Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Karl Piëch is an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who is currently the chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group....

 personally choose him to head design for VW's newly purchased Škoda Auto
Škoda Auto
Škoda Auto , more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group...

 division, where he revised the entire model line-up, creating the Octavia
Škoda Octavia
The Škoda Octavia is a small family car produced by Czech automaker Škoda Auto since 1996, its name revived from a model originally produced between 1959 and 1971. The current Octavia is available in five-door liftback and station wagon....

 and Fabia
Škoda Fabia
The Škoda Fabia is a supermini produced by Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 1999. It was the successor to the Škoda Felicia, which was discontinued in 2001...

 models.

After VW purchased Bentley in 1998 from Vickers plc
Vickers plc
Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation , shipbuilding and steel...

, 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
Bentley Arnage
The Bentley Arnage is a large luxury car produced by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England from 1998 to 2009. The Arnage, and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the Spring of 1998, and were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980.Another break...

 limo. Van Braeckel created the Bentley Continental GT
Bentley Continental GT
-Flying Spur:The four door Continental Flying Spur saloon was first displayed at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. The Flying Spur utilizes most of the technical underpinnings of the Bentley Continental GT, and was introduced to European and North American markets in the summer of 2005...

, which in 2004 sold 5,983 units, exceeding forecasts by 62%.

In 2007, van Braeckel was awarded the laureate of Antwerp's Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin was an influential Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher.-Life:...

 Prize
Christophe Plantin Prize
The Christophe Plantin Prize , is a Belgian civilian prize, intended to reward a Belgian citizen who resides abroad, who has made significant contributions to cultural, artistic or scientific activities....

, which honours Belgian citizens whose cultural, artistic or scientific activities contribute to the country's prestige abroad. In 2008, van Braeckel was awarded the European Automotive Design Award by Designers (Europe).
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