SHENZHEN-BASED carmaker BYD marked the completion of its all-new global design hub in Shenzhen at a ceremony Tuesday. According to a report by the Shenzhen Evening News, BYD’s design works related to product verification and concept verification, as well as such rail transit solutions as SkyRail and SkyShuttle, will be conducted at the design center. A design team led by prominent designers Wolfgang Egger, JuanMa Lopez and Michele Jauch-Paganetti will work at the new building. Egger, a former head designer with German carmaker Audi Group, now is BYD’s global head designer. His masterpieces include the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and the Audi R8. Lopez, a former head of the exterior design department at Ferrari, is BYD’s global exterior design director. His representative works include the La Ferrari, the F12 TDF and SF90 Stradale. Jauch-Paganetti, BYD’s global interior design director, was the sponsor and co-founder of the Mercedes-Benz Style. He was previously in charge of the interior design of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, V-Class and C-Class series. Encased in black glass, the new global design center looks like a huge black crystal. It seems that the automaker wants to use the inclusive color to express its eagerness to converge originality and inspiration of car design from around the world, so as to trigger powerful energy for exploring the future of traffic system design, the Shenzhen Evening News said. Covering 12,600 sqm in floor space, the design center can accommodate a total of 400 engineers and design staff to work simultaneously. There are several areas for specific functions, such as design, clay modeling, facility processing, comprehensive review as well as virtual evaluation. “Technology is the hard strength, while design is the soft strength. With both strengths in hand, the BYD products will be doubly driven by technologies and designs,” Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said at the ceremony. (Han Ximin) BYD Design, the Shenzhen-based carmaker’s new global design hub, has been completed in Pingshan District. Chen Yu | 