Former McLaren Chief Design Officer to take over as Porsche Design Head from February 1, 2026
It has been announced that Tobias Sühlmann (46) will take over as Head of Design at Porsche from February 1, 2026.
Michael Mauer (63) has been in charge of Porsche design for over 20 years, and Tobias will be Michael's successor.
Tobias, the new head of design at Porsche, has served as Chief Design Officer at British sports car manufacturer McLaren since 2023.
Porsche has had very few changes in its design chief in history, so this change seems to be seen as a pretty big deal.
The current head of design, Michael Mauer, is the fourth head of design in Porsche's long history (since taking office in 2004); before him there have only been three: Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, Anatol Lapine, and Harm Lagaay.
Michael Mauer studied automotive design at the University of Applied Sciences in Pforzheim, and worked for Mercedes-Smart and Saab before joining Porsche.
During his early years at Dr. Ing. hc F. Porsche AG, he oversaw the design of many key models, including the Cayenne, the new Panamera, and the 918 Spyder, and has since contributed to the transition of Porsche Design into the electric vehicle era.
Michael Mauer, who will retire as head of Porsche design at the end of January, commented as follows:
"Timeless design requires both durability and new inspiration. Given Porsche's strategic restructuring, now is the perfect time to bring a new perspective to design. It has been a great pleasure and honor for me to have been able to contribute to the formation and development of Porsche's design philosophy over such a long period of time."
Tobias, who will take over as Porsche's new head of design from February 1, 2026, studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Pforzheim, just like Michael, before starting his career at Volkswagen in 2005, where he was involved in the Passat and Touareg, before moving to Bugatti.
After working at Aston Martin as head of exterior design, he joined McLaren, and then moved on to Bentley, where he was heavily involved in the design of the Batur.
He will then return to McLaren as Chief Design Officer in September 2023, and will now take over as Head of Design at Porsche from February 2026.
For the first time in 22 years, someone new has taken over as head of design at Porsche, and I'm both excited and worried about what kind of impact this will have on future Porsches.
Although Porsche has evolved (in terms of design) with each model change, I believe that the "Porsche design" that is instantly recognizable as a Porsche has been passed down even as times change.
I hope that this Porsche will be a wonderful car that makes people think, "Oh, that's a Porsche," and "It's a Porsche after all, and that's why it's cool," while also evolving to keep up with the times.
There may come a day when a radical new design will be necessary, but I still hope that when a new model is announced, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Huh, is this a Porsche?"
...Well, there's no point in me worrying here (lol), but for now I'd like to keep an eye on future Porsche designs and look forward to them.
Thank you for your hard work, Michael Mauer.
Source:
◆(Official) Porsche appoints new Head of Design: Tobias Sühlmann succeeds Michael Mauer
I'm Rika, the author of this article. Since I got my hands on a Porsche 911, I've been completely hooked on Porsches and I can't stop loving them, so I started this blog. My favorite cars are the 911 Carrera (2/991), 911 Carrera Cabriolet & 911 Carrera T (1/992), GT3 (1/997) and 718 Cayman GT4 RS.
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