F01 exterior designer leaves for Mercedes-Benz

BMW F01

The exterior designer of the new F01 BMW 7-Series Karim Habib has left BMW for its rival Mercedes-Benz, where he will head an advanced design studio near Stuttgart. Habib will report to Mercedes-Benz design boss Gorden Wagener, who succeeded Peter Pfeiffer a few months ago. Another new member of the team who just joined in January this year is Joel Piaskowski, the main designer for the Hyundai Genesis sedan and coupe who has been in Hyundai since 2003.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Hudson on Mar 18, 2009 at 8:26 am

    ah…. thats not good…

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop on Mar 18, 2009 at 8:38 am

    i suppose merc suddenly realised they needed some help to counter the 7.. and what better person than to hire the guy who did it?

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  • shan0025 on Mar 18, 2009 at 9:09 am

    [quote comment="221969"]i suppose merc suddenly realised they needed some help to counter the 7.. and what better person than to hire the guy who did it?[/quote]

    personally, i think merc s-class looks better than tis 7 series…s class is sleeker tan 7…a day will come where i can drive one of this things..

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  • Farhat Haniff on Mar 18, 2009 at 11:19 am

    But honestly, seeing this in person, S-Class can look sleek and elegant, but seeing this humungous double-nose dwarfs the S-Class and the 7er really looks like a leader. Its beautiful on the road, back is ugly though.

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop on Mar 18, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    [quote comment="222001"]But honestly, seeing this in person, S-Class can look sleek and elegant, but seeing this humungous double-nose dwarfs the S-Class and the 7er really looks like a leader. Its beautiful on the road, back is ugly though.[/quote]

    i agree.. in terms of road presence, the new 7 will definitely turn heads more.

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  • azrai on Mar 18, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Wonder if this the domino effect of Chris bangle leaving BMW design division. So Merc got Pah Habib now. Habib Jewel. :-) Wondering when will Proton designer went to Europestar.

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  • i like bmw design , look fresh and sporty..

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  • jolly_idiot on Mar 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    This kinda market now still head hunting?

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  • 1ENZO1 (Member) on Mar 18, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    Oh no, why karim habib wanna move to merc? Merc is probably really lacking of car designing ideas.

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  • Littlefire on Mar 18, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    The problem that 7-series is the comfort & refinement that is loss to Merc S-class.

    The only thing 7-series win over the S-class is the technology. In rich man world, they dont care technology much compare to comfort..

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  • jazzer on Mar 18, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    proton designer is better r…malaysian is the best

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop on Mar 18, 2009 at 10:45 pm

    [quote comment="222067"]The problem that 7-series is the comfort & refinement that is loss to Merc S-class.

    The only thing 7-series win over the S-class is the technology. In rich man world, they dont care technology much compare to comfort..[/quote]

    but seriously, have you ridden in the new 7 series?

    i've not, but i've sat in an E65 (previous version 7) ,and driven several E60's.. not to mention i've driven mercs from b, c, e to s… i dare say that the comfort and refinement is definitely no slouch when compared with mercedes. bmw seems to have gotten that fine balance between comfort and performance just right.

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  • david on Mar 18, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    jazzer said,

    March 18, 2009 @ 11:40 am · Reply with quote

    proton designer is better r…malaysian is the best

    that is a very bad joke.

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  • Littlefire on Mar 19, 2009 at 12:17 am

    BanyakMasukWorkshop, i dont want to fight with you.

    Just go and check how many 7-series sold compare to S-class than you will know why. You have to ask those ah pek who really driving those S-class & 7-series. You will see a range of different opinion, but in the end ppl still choose S-class! That why S-class sold more than 7-series!

    Read the review from fifth gear:

    Merc got 5 star compare to Bmw 4 star only!

    S-class: http://fifthgear.five.tv/jsp/5gmain.jsp?mnk=201&a…

    7-series: http://fifthgear.five.tv/jsp/5gmain.jsp?mnk=201&a…

    Disadvantage of 7-series:

    1) Ride can be upset by rough British roads

    2) Not the quietest at motorway speeds

    3) The irrelevance of the 740i petrol engine

    It seems that you are the one which never done research and ask for other opinion. Those rich man ppl often drive and seat on these luxury car and they are more sensitive compare to normal ppl.

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  • raptorclans on Mar 19, 2009 at 12:29 am

    But Merc designs are already nicer than BMW… dat's odd… anyways let's see the results :P

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  • sick and tired on Mar 19, 2009 at 12:42 am

    The pictures doesn't do the new 7 series justice! It looks much better in real life, and IMO it definitely has more presence compared to the S-Class (which I also like)

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  • poached or willingly join?

    either way, its bad news for BMW. first bangle, then slowly other designers.

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  • mystvearn on Mar 19, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    Looks like BMW are loosing some designers at the moment. First was Chris bangle, now this. Though I don't mind Chris bangle leaving

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  • layman on Mar 19, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    [quote comment="222150"]But Merc designs are already nicer than BMW… dat's odd… anyways let's see the results :P[/quote]

    7 series won Red Dot design award, and S class only win Apek design award.

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  • The anorak (Member) on Mar 21, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    A lot of people seem to be fighting over the S-class and the 7-series,

    Ok, having driven the F01 seven series a month back, my conclusion would be

    on the refinement and comfort stance, it is no match to the S-class. Not to mention tech, these cars come out with something new in each new launch, so I dont see a point on arguing on that.

    So I come to the thing i like about the 7-series, it is very drivable, much nicer as compared to the S-class. The brakes and the power are fantastic though the twin turbo can be noisy under hard driving.

    and my god, the turning circle is DARM good.

    personally, i think the rear of the 7-series looks the the one on LS460L.

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