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Ford and Lincoln design honcho leaves to head Nissan North America design

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Last Friday,

David Woodhouse suddenly resigned

from his dual positions as

Ford’s

director of global strategic design and director of

Lincoln

design. In a post not long after leaving, he praised the efforts of his former team over the past six years he headed design at Lincoln. Among other products, that crew gave us the redesigned

Navigator

, the

Continental

concept and production sedan, and the

Aviator

concept and production

crossover

.

Car Design News reports Woodhouse traded

Michigan for California, taking the role of

VP at Nissan Design America in San Diego

. He officially assumes the position July 1, and will also serve on the Japanese automaker’s Global

Nissan

Design Management Committee.

Woodhouse has spent more than 25 years in the design department, starting with

BMW

and work on the Mini and

Range Rover

brands, followed by a brief stint with

Cadillac

of Europe. For the past 20 years he’s been with Ford, coming on board with the Ford’s former luxury arm known as the Premier Automotive Group —

Jaguar

,

Land Rover

,

Aston Martin

,

Volvo

and Lincoln.

He became Lincoln’s design director in 2013, introducing the world to the design language labeled “quiet flight.” He described the language’s details as “anti-wedge body gestures, S-curves wherever possible, and an emphasis on horizontal lines at every opportunity to create leaner, longer, wider emphasis on the exteriors, and create equilibrium, balance, and calmness on the interiors.” A much shorter way to describe it is: revitalized Lincolns. The U.S. luxury maker’s new and overhauled products have been praised for their lines by critics and by paying customers. The brand’s done so well it’s hard to remember when the

MKC

concept was a revelation, and that goes on Woodhouse’s résumé, too.

That’s some special juju to take to Nissan, where Woodhouse will lead both Nissan and

Infiniti

design focused on the North American region. Nissan has a solid if uninspiring lineup that sells well here, while Infiniti, as the luxury brand, is the bigger issue. Infiniti sedans glide on the contrails of a design language more than 10 years old. The money-making crossovers and SUVs haven’t made a splash in about the same time, since the long-ago

FX45

. Nissan’s plan to update 70 percent of its lineup over the next few years and Infiniti’s transition to an all-electric brand makes right now the perfect time to break into riveting designs for the street.

Woodhouse replaces Taro Ueda

, who moves into a global role with Nissan. The new VP will report to Alfonso Albaisa, SVP of global design at Nissan.

from Autoblog http://bit.ly/2F6akSk