Former Rolls-Royce director of design, Giles Taylor, has joined China-based FAW Group luxury brand Hongqi.

Holding the position of global vice president of design and chief creative officer, Taylor will oversee the brand’s Advanced Design Centre based in Munich, Germany – said to house a “globalised high-end design team”.  The team’s focus will be project work on future-thinking concepts and new metal. 

FAW claims that Taylor's role will be to “oversee the infusion of internationalised design philosophies into the complete range of FAW products, including autonomous passenger cars”.

Taylor has a long history of British car design, including 13 years at Jaguar as chief designer. He joined Rolls-Royce in 2012, overseeing the design of cars such as the Dawn drop-top, Cullinan SUV and latest Phantom saloon.  He joins Hongqi, known for being China's oldest car manufacturer.

Xu Liuping, chairman of FAW, said in a statement: "Under the general trend of globalisation, China’s auto industry is facing an excellent opportunity of setting not only a benchmark but also a precedent within the global auto industry. We need a more internationalised, specialised and diversified team with a more globalised mind and vision in order to deeply fuse China's rich high-level culture with other advanced global cultures.”