Tobias Sühlmann

German automotive designer appointed by Porsche to become Head of Design effective 1 February 2026; Bentley named him Head of Exterior Design in the Mulliner Batur design team.

Tobias Sühlmann studied transportation design at Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences and joined Volkswagen in 2005. His first two years were at the Potsdam Design Centre; he moved to Wolfsburg in 2007 and later became a team leader in exterior design. Trade coverage identifies him as senior exterior designer on a 2016 Arteon sketch and credits work on the Sport Coupé GTE, Golf GTE Sport, T-Prime GTE, Arteon and later Touareg.

In August 2017 Bugatti appointed Sühlmann Head of Exterior Design Creative Development, reporting to Achim Anscheidt. In May 2018 he moved to Aston Martin as Chief Exterior Designer, replacing Miles Nurnberger after Nurnberger's promotion; both reported to Marek Reichman. After two years at Aston Martin, he worked at McLaren as Lead Designer for Special Projects, overseeing the track-only Solus GT.

Sühlmann joined Bentley in Crewe as Head of Exterior Design in October 2021. Bentley unveiled the 18-series Mulliner Batur at Monterey Car Week on 21 August 2022 and credited Director of Design Andreas Mindt and his team, including Sühlmann and Andrew Hart-Barron. Sühlmann became Bentley Director of Design effective 1 February 2023, left that year, and was appointed McLaren Chief Design Officer from September 2023. Porsche announced his Head of Design appointment effective 1 February 2026.