Porsche(R) Names New Design Chief; Veteran Harm Lagaay to Retire

.May 12, 2004
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Porsche(R) Names New Design Chief; Veteran Harm Lagaay to Retire

ATLANTA - Porsche announced today the company's Board of Management has appointed Michael Mauer successor to Harm Lagaay, who will retire July 1, 2004, after more than 15 years as head of the Design Department at Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG in Stuttgart. Mauer, who is chief designer of Saab and the Advanced Concept Center at General Motors Europe, will take up his new position at the Research and Development Center in Weissach no later than November 1, 2004.

Harm Lagaay

"Porsche owes a lot to Harm Lagaay," said Porsche President and CEO, Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking. "His design philosophy and skill have made a major contribution to the high standing of the 911, Boxster and Cayenne on all world markets and therefore to the success of the company as a whole. He is entitled to be proud of his work."

Harm Lagaay's career began in 1967 at the Olyslager Company in Soest, Netherlands. A year later, he began working for car manufacturer Simca. He moved to Porsche in 1971. During the following six years in the Design Department in Weissach, he worked on the 924 and 911 models in particular. In 1977 he moved to Ford in Cologne as Design Manager, where his Advanced Design Department worked on the Escort, Sierra and Scorpio. In 1985, he became chief designer at BMW Technik GmbH in Munich and played a leading part in the development of the Z1. Since 1989, Lagaay has headed the main "Style Porsche" Department in Weissach, which has responsibility for the design of all Porsche models and for development work undertaken on behalf of outside clients.

Under his leadership, both the design study and the final Boxster model took shape. The Boxster was launched in the fall of 1996 and stimulated a commercial turnaround for Porsche after several difficult years of crisis. The 996-series Porsche 911 and the Cayenne are also products of his pen. Lagaay's career at Porsche culminated with the Carrera GT high-performance sports car, the design of which has been awarded numerous international prizes.

Michael Mauer

Photos: Porsche

Michael Mauer, born July 28, 1962 in the German town of Rotenburg/Fulda, grew up in Hochenschwand, in the Black Forest. He studied automobile design from 1982 to 1986 at the Polytechnic in Pforzheim, and from there secured his first job in the Design area of Mercedes-Benz AG in Sindelfingen. In 1989, he was appointed design project leader for the Mercedes V Class models, and two years later was in charge of design work for the first SLK model generation. In July 1995, the company appointed him head of department and entrusted him with design responsibility for its A-Class, SLK and SL models.

In 1998, Michael Mauer moved to the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Tokyo as general manager, and was intensively involved in advanced development work on various model lines. A year later, he was put in charge of Design at MCC Smart GmbH. In June 2000, he went to the Swedish Saab company as executive director design, and since March 2003 he has also been responsible for Advanced Design at General Motors Europe.

"Michael Mauer enjoys a high reputation in the automobile industry," said Wolfgang Durheimer, Board Member for Research and Development. "He will not only continue Harm Lagaay's successful work but will also impart new, forward- looking stimuli to design at Porsche. I look forward to welcoming him to our team."

(May 10, 2004)

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