Genesis poaches Italdesign and ex-Lamborghini design chief Filippo Perini

Only a couple of days after Kia landed ex-Infiniti and BMW man Karim Habib, the Hyundai Group scores another coup. Genesis lured Filippo Perini away from his job as head of design and innovation at Italdesign to lead the South Korean luxury brand’s Advanced Design Studio Europe. Genesis said it hired Perini for his “expertise in both advanced and production design, as well as in leading design teams in streamlining digital design processes.” From his side, Perini gets to bring his 24 years of luxury expertise to the evolution of the Genesis brand and Genesis’ effort to reach brand perception parity with the segment goliaths.  

And Perini has impressive experience. He started in 1995 as a designer at Alfa Romeo for five years, eventually taking over Alfa’s exterior design. His pencil work has been seen on everything from the 1995 Alfa Romeo GTV to the 2001 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. A two-year stint at Audi turned into a job as head of exterior and interior design at Lamborghini in 2004, with Perini taking over Lamborghini’s entire design department from 2006 to 2016. In those roles, he participated in or oversaw the designs of the 2006 Miura Concept, Reventón, Estoque, Aventador, Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, Urus, Aventador J, Veneno, Huracán, and Asterion LPI 910-4. Or, put more simply, almost every Lamborghini that has created the momentum Lamborghini enjoys today. In 2015, Lamborghini sold 3,245 cars, a record for the brand at the time. The Sant’ Agata carmaker will sell more than 8,000 cars this year, and has had to unveil plans to cap production.

In 2016, after Giorgetto Giugiaro and son Fabrizio left Audi subsidiary Italdesign, the Volkswagen mothership put Perini in charge. In his short tenure, he’s done the Huracán-based Zerouno, the China-market FAW A50, and the DaVinci we saw earlier this year. Seems it was time for a new challenge.

Perini will report to an alum in Luc Donckerwolke, the chief design officer at Hyundai Motor Group who ere ago designed the Lamborghini Murciélago. Perini takes over the European Advanced Design Studio next Monday, Sept. 16.