Renowned British designer Peter Horbury has died aged 73, while on a business visit to the Geely group headquarters in China. Best known for his work at Volvo, Horbury began his design career at Chrysler UK following his graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1974.
Horbury had his stint at Volvo as chief of design beginning in 1991 and which ran for 11 years, and in this time he would lead the Swedish automotive brand in its departure from the boxy designs of past, into its new design era with the ReVolvolution theme.
Horbury’s arrival at Volvo brought design change that was visible in the transition from the Volvo 850 to the first-generation Volvo S60, and was also credited for crossover models such as the first-generation V70 XC as well as the XC90, along with other styles such as the C70 and the C30 hatchback.
Following Geely ownership of Volvo, Horbury’s scope would further expand with his appointment as vice president of global design at Geely Auto Group, and with that Horbury led Geely design studios around the world including those in Shanghai, China; Gothenburg, Sweden; Barcelona, Spain; California, United States; Coventry, England and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Many Geely models would get the Horbury design touch, including the Chinese brand’s C-segment SUV model the Boyue, which would go on to serve as the basis for the Proton X70.
In 2021, Horbury was succeeded by Stefan Sielaff in his role as VP of global design at Geely Auto Group, and Horbury then went on to become senior vice president of design at Group Lotus, which is also under the Geely banner.
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would be interesting to see if car models after his departure maintains any of his previous designs. I personally loved the way the volvo’s from the past decade.
We loves the iconic design of volvo S40, waja impian, mmc carisma.
I highly doubt the Carisma was his design..
it was Kiyoshi Honda, for the Charisma. classic.