Walter de'Silva: A5 "masterpiece"... Even if he does say so himself

"This is the most beautiful car I've designed in my career," said former Audi style-meister Walter Maria de'Silva as the wraps were pulled off the A5/S5 coupe concurrently at the Geneva and Melbourne motor shows last week (more here).

It's a huge call, even from an ace crayon wielder whose CV is littered with stellar achievements -- and numerous design awards to validate them.

Who is Walter de'Silva? To put it simply, he's the man who rejuvenated Audi's look over the past five years with a series of handsome designs that have won the German brand's cars widespread media acclaim, not to mention global sales growth.

Installed in 2002 as the boss of the Audi brand group (which then comprised the Audi, Lamborghini and Seat marques), the softly spoken 56-year-old was recently bumped up the corporate ladder by being appointed the head of Volkswagen Group Design.

In this role, which he assumed on February 1 this year, he is responsible for the design lines of all passenger car brands that fall under the VW umbrella -- Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini).

Italy-born de'Silva began his career in 1972 at the Fiat Design Centre in Turin. In 1975 he moved to the R Bonetto studio in Milan, where he was principally responsible for design of interior equipment.

After a subsequent seven-year stint as the head of the Industrial Design and Automobiles area at the Instituto Idea in Turin, he switched to Alfa Romeo in 1986, taking charge of the Alfa Romeo Design Centre in Milan. In 1994 he took the helm at the Alfa Romeo and Fiat Automotive Design Centre, where he was responsible for the development of new models.

He was instrumental in reshaping the venerable Italian marque's fortunes, which had floundered in the wake of some boxy, uninspired (we'd go as far as to say butt-ugly) designs in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

de'Silva's handiwork at Alfa included the Proteo (1991) and Nuvola (1996) concepts and the immensely stylish 156 (1997) and 147 (2001) production models, which dramatically altered the way the marque's offerings were perceived.

He joined Seat in 1999, where he was responsible for innovative designs such as the Salsa and Tango concept studies, the new Leon, the Altea and the Toledo -- but it's his work at Audi and Lamborghini that truly thrust him to the league of elite designers.

He bagged the 2004 award for "The most beautiful car in the world", presented in Milan, for the design of the Audi A6 and the Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster.

His burgeoning trophy cabinet also includes the 2004 Autonis Prize, awarded to the Audi A8 and the Audi A4 by the German periodical Auto/StraBenverkehr for the best design in their class. In 2005 the Audi A6 received the prestigious 'red dot' design award from the North Rhine-Westphalia Design Centre.

Add to that the fact that de'Silva is also the bloke who penned Audi's stunning Nuvolari (2003) and Le Mans (2003) concept studies, not to mention the new TT and R8, and we're left questioning the validity of his remark that the new A5 is his finest work to date.

CarPoint/Carsales put this to him at the Geneva show and he responded: "From a proportion and architecture point of view, (the A5) is a perfect masterpiece."

Er, okay then... de Silva continued: "The A5 was born to have four seats, whereas the TT is strictly a 2+2 and the R8 is a two-seater only. The range is now complete."

As for his new role as the VW Group's design chief, de'Silva says his goal is to put the seven Volkswagen-owned brands in "the number one position as far as design is concerned."

Interestingly, de'Silva says particular emphasis is required on improving occupant comfort and in-car entertainment. He also said carmakers need to "go back to elegance", which is perhaps a veiled reference to brands that have overly challenged consumer tastes with avantgarde designs.

Asked by CarPoint/Carsales, which, if any, products offered by other manufacturers he truly rated from a design perspective, de'Silva nominated the Fiat Grande Punto and the new BMW 3 Series Coupe.

The latter is a somewhat startling admission, as the two-door 3 Series is the car that de'Silva's A5 must beat in the prestige coupe segment. 

Perhaps it's a tribute to the modesty of the unassuming designer, who's not too proud to hand out credit where it's due, even if it's to an arch rival that he'd like to pulverise in the marketplace.

To comment on this article click here