Borgward poaches MINI's designer

MINI's former design boss, Anders Warming, has parted company with the BMW Group to head up fledgling Chino-German car-maker Borgward.

The shock move of Warming to Borgward is seen within the industry as a statement of intent as the car-maker steps closer to realising its ambitious sales target of selling 800,000 vehicles by 2020 and 1.6 million units by 2025.

Warming, 43, has headed up MINI design for the last six years and is credited with the most recent versions of the MINI hatch, MINI Convertible and the more recently launched Clubman.

It's thought his influence on the brand will introduce vehicles that will be more appealing to buyers in Europe, the US and Australia.

So far, Borgward has only revealed a small family of SUVs that began with the Audi Q5-rivalling BX7 SUV last year at the Frankfurt motor show and was expanded to include the smaller compact BX5 and BX6 TS SUV coupe.

It's thought that Warming's first task will be to create a range of small and compact cars.

All vehicles are expected to come with the firm's new plug-in hybrid powertrains.

The company’s ambitious strategy has international backing from huge Chinese vehicle-maker Foton Motor Company.

Based in Stuttgart, Germany – the home of Mercedes-Benz — Borgward announced its return after 54 years at the 2015 Geneva show and already claims to have a 1000-strong workforce.

It’s still not clear where the vehicle will be built.