Peter Horbury - Vice President, Design Volvo Car Corporation, CV and Biography
PETER HORBURY, CV & BIOGRAPHY
Present position: Vice President, Design Volvo Car Corporation
Joined Volvo Car Corporation: May 2009 (1979)
Born: 1950
Education
1972 - Graduated from Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic School of Art in Industrial Design.
1974 - Graduated from The Royal College of Art in London with a masters degree in Automotive Design.
2003 awarded an Honorary ''Doctorate at Northumbria University (previously Newcastle Polytechnic).
Previous positions
2004 - 2009 Ford Motor Company, USA, Executive Director of Design
2002 - 2004 Premier Automotive Group (a group within Ford Motor Company), Design Director
1991 - 2002 Volvo Car Corporation, Sweden, Vice President and Chief Designer
1986 - 1991 MGA Developments, Coventry, Design Director (and part owner)
1981 - 1986 Volvo Cars Netherlands, Consultant designer
1979 - 1981 Volvo Car Corporation, Sweden, Consultant Designer
1977 - 1979 Ford of Europe in Dunton and Cologne, Senior Designer
1974 - 1977 Chrysler UK in Coventry, Designer
BIOGRAPHY
Peter Horbury decided at the age of around 7 that he wanted to design cars for a living and he has since then followed all the necessary steps to achieve that ambition.
After the education he came to Chrysler and was involved in numerous projects including the Chrysler Horizon, Sunbeam, and the Tagora. In 1977 he became a senior designer at Ford of Europe. There Peter was involved in a number of cars; including the revolutionary Ford Sierra.
When Peter came to Volvo to help with a new series of smaller cars he started by designing the interiors for the 480, 440 and 460, all of which he saw through to production.
At the independent design and engineering consultants MGA he designed for a number of different customers that included cars for Rolls Royce, the new Triumph motor cycles, flight simulators and numerous cars, buses and trucks for many global brands. He was pioneering new computer techniques for designing cars and he has been passionate about the subject ever since.
At the age of 41 Peter Horbury had achieved what he thought was the ultimate goal, to be the Chief Designer of a world famous car brand - Volvo. He took this role very seriously and over the years Peter thinks he and his team made a big difference to a brand , which had not previously been known for its exciting designs.
The first of the models that was launched under his watch was the S40 and V40 of 1995 followed by the facelift of 850, known as S and V70, the S80, S60 and XC70. Others are the original C70 plus its convertible hard top successor, the C30, and the XC90.
Peter has also been in charge for various concept cars, like the first Environmental Concept Car in 1992, which pointed the way to the new Volvo look for the following decade and the Safety Concept car of 2001, which encouraged Volvo Cars to start the C30 programme.
Peter Horbury is very proud that he was able to change the look of the Volvo cars from "boxy" to sexy. This transformation started in the early 90's.
For two years he was Design Director for Ford's Premier Automotive Group, including the brands Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo. But when he was asked to take charge of the Design direction of Ford of America he went there for 5 years to be responsible for all the new American Fords including the Edge, the Escape, the Flex, the Fusion, the Taurus, the Mustang and the 2011 Explorer. Peter was also instrumental in redefining the Lincoln brand and overseeing the range of the completely new Lincoln vehicles.
In 2009 he was asked by the then Volvo Cars' President and CEO Stephen Odell, if he would consider returning to Sweden and early that year he was reinstalled as Vice President Design.