Karim Habib
Karim Antoine Habib (born 1970[1]) is a Canadian automotive designer of Lebanese descent, currently the head of design for the Korean vehicle manufacturer Kia. He previously worked for the BMW and Infiniti.[2][3][4] He is fluent in Arabic, English, French, German, and Italian.
Karim Habib | |
---|---|
Born | 17 March 1970 Beirut, Lebanon |
Citizenship | Canadian |
Alma mater | McGill University |
Occupation | Automotive Designer |
Years active | 1998–present |
Known for | Automotive Design |
Career
Habib moved to Canada in his early years and was educated at McGill University, as well as Transportation Design at the Art Center College of Design.[2]
In 1998, he was hired by BMW. He got his first break at BMW designing the interior of the E60 5 Series.[5] Later he designed the exterior of the BMW 7 Series F01.[2][3][4] He left to work for Mercedes-Benz in 2009 for a few years and came back to BMW in 2011 as exterior designer until January 2017.[2][3][4]
He started employment with Infiniti in July 2017[6] and left the company in August 2019, being replaced by Taisuke Nakamura.[7]
In September 2019, Habib joined Kia as Senior Vice President and Head of Kia Design Center.[8]
Notable works
- Mercedes F800
- BMW 7 Series F01
- BMW X6
- BMW X3
- BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe
- BMW 5 Series (E60) (interior)
References
- "Karim Habib of BMW". Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- Lightstone, Miranda. "Interview: Karim-Antoine Habib". Archived from the original on 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- "Who's Where: Karim Habib appointed Head of BMW Design - Car Design News". www.cardesignnews.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- "BMW designer, Karim Habib (*1970) | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- "BMW Automobiles Design Boss Karim Habib Resigns. Again". Form Trends. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
- "Karim Habib devient responsable du design chez Infiniti - le blog auto". le blog auto (in French). 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
- "Taisuke Nakamura named head of INFINITI Design". Nissan Online Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1650268