Walter de’Silva

Audi A5 design by Walter de’Silva

Walter de’Silva is a current car designer and head of the Volkswagen Group design. Since 2002, de’Silva has been head of design of the now discontinued Adui group. With his new position he will be responsible for all design for all Volkswagen Group passenger car brands including Bentley, Bugatti and Skoda. His long career in the automotive world began at the Fiat Centro Stile in 1972, when he was just 21 years old. This experience was followed by nine years at I.DE.A Institute under the direction of Franco Mantegazza and Renzo Piano before being recruited by Alfa Romeo. Mr. de’Silva says that design to him is ” in abstract terms, a sum of individual signals, which combine to produce a powerful overall signal.” Walter was born in Italy of 1951 and started his career in 1972 and from then on his career grew. In 1986 he joined Alfa Romeo, where he brought many styling innovations, especially in the front grille theme. Among the projects developed under his direction, are the Alfa 147 and the Alfa 156. In 1994 he took over the management of the design center of both Fiat and Alfa Romeo. To read an interview with Walter de’Silva click here.