Henning Knoepfle
From brand vision to production.
Twenty-eight years of car design in Germany, the United States and China. Design Director at Dongfeng Motor in Wuhan. Before that Technicon Design, Mitsubishi and Opel.
Work
eπ: a brand built on proportion and clarity
A new electric brand, its design language and its first two cars. Dongfeng Motor, 2021 to 2024.
Aeolus L series: three programmes, one family
Electric and plug-in versions of existing SUVs, made to read as one family. Dongfeng Motor, 2023 to 2026.
Forthing: T5 EVO and Yacht
A new language for the brand, from the relaunch SUV to the family MPV. Dongfeng Liuzhou, 2019 to 2021.
Commercial vehicles
Heavy trucks, vans and buses for Dongfeng, Volvo, Mack, Great Wall and Foton.
Earlier: BAIC Yinxiang, two brands and two SUVs, 2017 to 2018.
Beyond the car
Building studios
Technicon Design Shanghai from zero to 35 people and from RMB 5 million to RMB 23 million in revenue in three years. Two studios built, 14 new customers.
Running programmes
A costed plan before work starts, an open-item list while it runs, and a change process that protects scope, budget and the client relationship.
Research and strategy
Market, customer and brand studies that end in one recommendation a design team can use.
Studio projects
Client work by my teams at Technicon Design in Shanghai and Frankfurt, 2010 to 2017.
Teaching
Fifteen years at Academy of Art University, and a year at California State University, Long Beach.
22 production vehicles and 11 show cars and concepts since 1998. See the index.