Infiniti has just hired a Canadian as their head of design, starting later this year. Karim Habib comes to Infiniti from BMW, where he was head of the BMW Brand Design team.
Habib, who grew up in Montreal and earned a mechanical engineering degree from McGill University, is replacing Alfonso Albaisa starting, appropriately, on July 1st. Albaisa has been appointed Habib's boss as Senior Vice President, Global Design for Nissan, and is responsible for Infiniti's current designs, including the 2017 QX30 SUV and newest Q50 sedan.
Karim Habib's list of vehicles is impressive. The designer began his career at BMW where he designed the body of the 2008-2015 7 Series as well as the BMW CS concept. After a brief stint at Mercedes-Benz that included the F800 concept that previewed the CLS, Habib returned to BMW in 2011. Back at BMW, his design credits include the 2017 BMW X1, X3, X4, and X5, the refresh of the 2018 BMW 4 Series, the BMW Next 100 concept, and the polarizing CSL Hommage concept.
Infiniti global president Roland Krueger said that "Karim is very skilled at capturing the heart and passion of a brand while at the same time giving each design its unique character," adding that he "looks forward to Karim inspiring our teams to shape the next generation of Infiniti."
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