People

Stefan Sielaff

Former Bentley Director of Design, 2015–21; Geely Vice President of Global Design

Born
Munich, 1962
Nationality
German

The record

German designer who was Bentley's Director of Design from July 2015 to early 2021 and was quoted on the 2020 Mulliner Bacalar. Geely appointed him Vice President of Global Design in 2021; an official Zeekr release used the same title in June 2026.

He was born in Munich on 7 January 1962. He studied industrial design at Munich's University of Applied Sciences until 1988, then earned a master's degree in vehicle design at the Royal College of Art in 1990 on an Audi scholarship. He began at Audi in Ingolstadt in interior design that year, helped establish the Group Design Center Europe in Sitges in 1995, and became Head of Audi Interior Design in 1997.

In 2003 he joined DaimlerChrysler in Sindelfingen as Design Director of its Interior Competence Center. He returned to Audi as chief designer in 2006, reporting to Walter de Silva, and moved on 1 February 2012 to lead Volkswagen Design Center Potsdam and Group Interior Design. Contemporary reporting credited him with developing Audi's Singleframe grille and LED-light design, and named the A1 and Q3 among his Audi responsibilities.

Bentley announced Sielaff's appointment as Director of Design in June 2015, effective 1 July, succeeding Luc Donckerwolke. It said he would retain his Group Interior Design role. In January 2021, Bentley announced Andreas Mindt as his successor from 1 March. Geely appointed Sielaff Vice President of Global Design in September 2021; Zeekr's June 2026 release still used that title.

Revealed in March 2020, the Mulliner Bacalar was a roofless Barchetta limited to 12 cars. Contemporary reporting said it shared no body panel with a production Bentley other than the Continental GT door handle, and that it opened Mulliner's Coachbuilt portfolio. Sielaff, then Bentley's Director of Design, described EXP 100 GT echoes and the late-1920s Birkin Blower as inspiration.

Small studio, not department

At Bentley he described a team of about 25 designers, 25 modellers and slightly fewer than 100 people in total: a scale at which, he said in 2020, the director could work in the team rather than merely supervise it.

Ready-to-spring rear stance

He described the Bentley stance as looking ready to spring forward, like a tiger, with dynamism at the rear wheel, a high shoulder line, a short front overhang and a long rear one.

Less rather than more

His working rule, set out while at Crewe, was timelessness: an aesthetic of less rather than more, and a design that stays clean and clear.

The stations

  1. 1990–2003AudiInterior designer, later Head of Audi Interior Design
  2. 2003–2006DaimlerChryslerDesign Director, Interior Competence Center
  3. 2006–2012AudiDesign Director
  4. 2012–2015VolkswagenHead of Design Center Potsdam and Group Interior Design
  5. 2015–2021BentleyDirector of Design
  6. 2021–Geely Auto GroupVice President of Global Design

The house

Bentley

Credited through Bentley.

In the register

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In their words

“You can clearly see echoes of the EXP 100 GT in the Bacalar, as well as the influence of the past. Bentley has a rich history of open-cockpit cars – the design of the Birkin Blower Bentley of the late 1920s was also an inspiration.”

Stefan Sielaff · Car Design News, 2020