China FAW Group Co., Ltd. (FAW) announced on September 7th 2018 that Giles Taylor has formally joined FAW as the “Global Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer (CCO)”. He will be chiefly responsible for creating unique design strategies and style concepts for the FAW luxury brand Hongqi.

Giles Taylor

Mr. Taylor, a master’s graduate in 1992 from the vehicle design discipline of the renown Royal College of Art in London, has rich experiences in super-luxury car design. He started work as a designer for Automobiles Citroen creating the exterior designs for Xsara and the popular C3. In 1997 he moved to the British luxury marque Jaguar Cars Ltd. During his 13 years of work, he held the position of Chief Designer for the current XJ saloon and previous XK sportscar launched in 2007. In 2011, Taylor joined Rolls-Royce Motorcars where from 2012 he served as Director of Design up until now. He led the design of many successful cars including the drop-head Dawn, iconic Phantom VIII limousine and the recently launched Cullinan SUV.

Upon becoming a formal member of the FAW Taylor said: "I am very much looking forward to embarking on an exciting new career path with FAW Hongqi, as the oldest and most famous Chinese car brand, carries with it a deeply significant and diverse cultural history. There are many inspirational elements surrounding the marque with which to create fresh, modern vehicles for the new era. I look forward to working with the FAW Executive team to deliver this fascinating mission for Hongqi as well as exciting future products for the FAW."

Mr Xu Liuping, Chairman of China FAW Group Co., Ltd., welcomed Taylor’s joining. He said: "Under the general trend of globalization, 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 internationalized, specialized and diversified team with a more globalized mind and vision in order to deeply fuse China's superior culture with global advanced cultures, modern fashion designs, leading-edge science and technologies, and fine-grained emotional experiences into brilliant products and services."   

About Hongqi: 

Hongqi is a high-end car brand under the FAW and directly operated by the FAW headquarters.

For Chinese people, Hongqi represents not only a well-known car brand, but also a deep feeling and a sacred memory. For FAW people, Hongqi is more a strong sense of responsibility and historical mission. In 1958, the first Hongqi car was born. Since then, Hongqi has become a car special for our national leaders and high-profile events. In the 1960s-1970s, Hongqi cars became a banner of China's auto industry. After the reform and opening up, Hongqi began its marketization and commercialization while continuing to play the important role of "national car". On January 8, 2018, FAW released the strategy of new Hongqi. On April 25, 2018, Hongqi separately struck its first historical pose at the Beijing Auto Show, where the Hongqi H5, a high-end class-B car, was sensationally launched. 

About the Strategy of New Hongqi:

Concept of new Hongqi: new nobleness and fineness of Chinese style

The new Hongqi will highlight the concept of "new nobleness", "new fineness" and "new feeling" to deeply fuse China's superior culture with global advanced cultures, modern fashion designs, leading-edge science and technologies, and fine-grained emotional experiences into brilliant products and services.

Target customers of new Hongqi: new noble people of Chinese style

Strategic target of new Hongqi: to build the new Hongqi into a "new noble brand" best in China and famous around the world, to meet the consumers' demand for "good life and wonderful travel" in the new era, and to shoulder the historically important task of making China's auto industry stronger. 

Product series of new Hongqi: this product family will cover four series, namely L, S, H, and Q. Among them, L is Noble-luxury, S is Sports-luxury, H is Premium-luxury, and Q is Business-luxury - cars all belonging to the new, noble Hongqi. 

FAW is a leading global manufacturer of quality passenger cars, trucks, and buses. Established in 1953, the company is China’s oldest and largest automotive group. Annual sales exceed three million units.