Volvo styling chief Peter Horbury moves to Geely

Peter Horbury, the styling boss at Volvo Car Corp., is transferring to the Swedish vehicle manufacturer's sister brand, Geely Group, to serve as senior vice president design. The successor of Horbury as Volvo's styling chief has yet to be named. The process is ongoing, a Volvo spokesperson said, adding that the design departments at the two companies are run independently. China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group owned the two vehicle manufacturers.

Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby commented that Horbury has played "a very important role" for the design of Volvo during "a long period of time," adding that he has "a legendary position in the automotive world." Horbury is credited with moving Volvo away from its boxy origins to the sleeker, leaner models seen in the automaker's current product range.

In 1991, he started his career with the Swedish automaker as head of design, assisting in the creation of new models such as the XC90 crossover prior to his move to Ford's Premier Automotive Group in 2002 where he was responsible for the design at all four PAG brands: Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo and Land Rover. After two years, Horbury transferred to Detroit to serve as executive director of design at Ford, prior to his return to Volvo in 2009 to serve as the vice president of design. Zhejiang Geely bought Volvo from Ford in 2010 for around $1.5 billion. From 2007 to 2010, Ford sold all four brands comprising the PAG group.

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