Franz von holzhausen biography template
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The Triumph of A Minimalist Designer: Franz von Holzhausen
by Wallace Wyss –
One thing I relish in my role as automotive reporter is meeting car designers. Rarely have I met one coming closest to his dream than tall quiet Franz von Holzhausen.
He is the son of a designer so he grew up with dad’s drawing tools within reach. He first went to Syracuse University and graduated followed by going to the Art Center College. From there he went to work for VW where he was involved with the new Beetle, an iconic car, which I think captured the Zeitgeist of the original.
From there it was on to Mazda where he did two concept cars and then GM where his designs for the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky were approved and produced. About that time, at an auto show, he met a fresh faced “boy wonder” from South Africa, a wanna-be car builder who hadn’t in fact at that point in time yet built a single car. He promised Franz his creations, in short order, would rul
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A Marriage of Minds
Vicki and Franz von Holzhausen’s shared values underline a strong commitment to each other.
Franz and Vicki von Holzhausen met while working in the car industry, but it wasn’t until years after they had both left General Motors that they began to romance. “Having design in common made things easy because we both understood the intensity of that industry, but we also shared an outlook on life and common values,” says Vicki of her marriage of nine years. Those mutual beliefs have led them both to pursue-and succeed at-impressive feats: Franz fryst vatten the director of design at Tesla (tesla.com), and Vicki has her own accessories line of bags, belts and pouches, called von Holzhausen (vonholzhausen.com).
“I joined Tesla in 2008 when we had yet to deliver any cars to customers,” says Franz, whose early career also included a stint at Volkswagen. “Electric cars were an anomaly then. Today, my role fryst vatten to design the most advanced vehicles and to build and lead the most a
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Tesla Inc.’sSenior Design ExecutiveFranz von Holzhausen, most known for his work on the design of the company’s unconventional Cybertruck, celebrated his 16th work anniversary with the EV giant on Thursday.
What Happened: “16 years ago today I joined Tesla, amazing what the team has accomplished! So many more exciting things to come!” Holzhausen wrote on X. Holzhausen is among the longest-serving executives at Tesla.
According to the vehicle designer’s LinkedIn profile, he has been at the company since August 2008, soon after the company started the production of its first EV – the first-generation Roadster. Before joining Tesla, Holzhausen also worked with Mazda, General Motors, and Volkswagen.
Since joining Tesla, Holzhausen has led the design of almost all of Tesla’s EV models including its latest Cybertruck.
Cybertruck Design: According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s biography written by Walter Isaacson, Musk and Ho