Karim Habib

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Karim Habib
Born (1970-03-17) March 17, 1970 (age 54)
Beirut, Lebanon
CitizenshipCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
OccupationAutomotive Designer
Years active1998–present
Known forAutomotive Design

Karim Antoine Habib (born 1970[1]) is a Canadian automotive designer. He is currently the executive vice president and head of Kia global design[2] for the Korean vehicle manufacturer Kia. He previously worked for BMW and Infiniti.[3][4][5] He is fluent in Arabic, English, French, German, and Italian.

Career[edit]

Born in Lebanon, Habib had to leave the country due to the ensueing civil war and moved to Canada in his teenage years,[6] and was educated at McGill University, as well as Transportation Design at the Art Center College of Design.[3]

In 1998, he was hired by BMW. He got his first break at BMW designing the interior of the E60 5 Series.[7] Later he designed the exterior of the BMW 7 Series F01.[3][4][5] He left to work for Mercedes-Benz in 2009 for a few years and came back to BMW in 2011 as exterior designer until January 2017.[3][4][5]

He started employment with Infiniti in July 2017[8] and left the company in August 2019, being replaced by Taisuke Nakamura.[9][10]

In September 2019, Habib joined Kia as Senior Vice President and Head of Kia Design Center.[11]

Notable works[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Karim Habib of BMW". Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  2. ^ "Hyundai Motor Group Announces 2022 Second-half Executive Appointments". HYUNDAI MOTORS. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  3. ^ a b c d Lightstone, Miranda. "Interview: Karim-Antoine Habib". Archived from the original on 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  4. ^ a b c "Who's Where: Karim Habib appointed Head of BMW Design - Car Design News". www.cardesignnews.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  5. ^ a b c "BMW designer, Karim Habib (*1970) | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  6. ^ MyGrandStory.org (2021-10-18). "Karim Habib". MyGrandStory (in German). Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  7. ^ "BMW Automobiles Design Boss Karim Habib Resigns. Again". Form Trends. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Karim Habib devient responsable du design chez Infiniti - le blog auto". le blog auto (in French). 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  9. ^ "Taisuke Nakamura named head of INFINITI Design". Nissan Online Newsroom. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  10. ^ "Montreal's Karim Habib is Leaving Infiniti After Two Years". The Car Guide. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  11. ^ "Former BMW Design Boss Karim Habib Will Now Head Kia Design".
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