Given the overall size of the car industry, top development jobs in the kind of brands we're interested in tend to be shared around a very small number of individuals. Indeed, at times it has the makings of a soap opera! Witness the arrival of
Stefano Domenicali
at Lamborghini to replace Stephan Winkelmann (returning to head up
Audi Sport
), BMW M recruiting Quattro GmbH (as was) main man
Franciscus 'Frank' van Meel
while Albert Biermann from M has gone on
to help Kia
with its new rear-wheel drive platform. Closer to home Aston Martin of course poached Lotus development figurehead
Matt Becker
and has been busy recruiting new talent to the fold from a certain Italian rival.
With Aston Martin losing top man
Ian Minards
to Dyson's rumoured car project there was a vacancy to fill in the Chief Technical Officer role. That position has been taken by Maximillian Szwaj, recruited from his previous job of Head of Innovation and Body Engineering at Ferrari and Maserati. A position that will bring with it some valuable insight from some key competitors, not least with the latter working on the Vantage-level
Alfieri
Once that debrief has been completed Max - as we're seemingly to call him - will pick up where departing development boss Ian Minards left off. Approachable and enjoyable company on launch events, Minards has been the front man for the Vertical Horizontal era of the DB9 and Vantage and always open and willing to offer genuine insight into the engineering mindset of the brand. We'll hope his successor is equally chatty! Given the focused but down-to-earth corporate mindset adopted by boss Andy Palmer you'd have to hope he'll be encouraged to engage with the likes of us and explain how he'll work with his colleagues in developing Aston Martin's 'Second Century' products.
Clearly he inherits the basis of that in the DB11 and the other cars already in development - including the AMG-engined Vantage replacement - but with a background at Porsche, BMW and then at Ferrari and Maserati he'd appear well qualified to do that. "I'm delighted to be joining Aston Martin at what is an exciting time for the brand," Szwaj is quoted in the press release announcing his appointment. "The company is at a significant point in its history, and I'm excited to play a part in developing a series of new cars and technologies that will reshape Aston Martin for the future."