Laurens van den Acker (born 5 September 1965, Deurne,

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

) is a Dutch

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

designer.

Biography

Van den Acker studied at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

, where he obtained a Master of Engineering at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

Career

He began his career in 1990 as a designer at Design System srl in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, that worked on the interior of the

Bugatti EB110 The Bugatti EB 110 is a mid-engine sports car produced by Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. from 1991 until 2002, when the company was liquidated. It was the only production model made by Romano Artioli's Italian incarnation of Bugatti. History Deve ...

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

. In 1993, he moved to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

as an Exterior Designer in the

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

Design Center in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he met

J Mays J Mays is an American industrial designer who served as Group Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer at Ford Motor Company, and is now Chief Design Officer at Whirlpool. His name is simply "J", named after his grandfather, S ...

. In 1996 he followed J Mays to SHR Perceptual Management in Newbury Park as a Senior Designer. Van den Acker joined

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

, where J Mays had become vice-president of Design, in 1998. Late, he became chief designer of the Brand Imaging Group in Irvine, California. He was involved in designing Ford concepts such as the 427, designed by Joe Baker, Concept U, and Ma; in 2003, he eventually became chief designer on

Ford Escape The Ford Escape is a compact crossover SUV sold by Ford since 2000 over four generations. The first generation was jointly developed with Mazda which also created the Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner as the twin model. Second generations of th ...

in the Dearborn Design Center, Michigan (USA). In 2005, he became chief designer of Strategic Design of Ford. In May 2006 he replaced

Moray Callum Moray S. Callum (born 19 November 1958) is a Scottish automobile designer who was Vice President, Design for Ford Motor Company, having retired on 1 May 2021. His elder brother Ian Callum was the Design Director of Jaguar from 1999 to 2019. Ea ...

as global head of design for

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

. He was responsible for the Mazda concepts Nagare (Los Angeles 2006), Ryuga (Detroit 2007), and Hakaze (Geneva 2007). He resigned from Mazda April 2009, and joined

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

on May 15, 2009. In September 2009, he became Senior Vice President of Renault Corporate Design to replace

Patrick le Quément Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

. He contributed to the design of

Renault Twizy The Renault Twizy is a two-seat Electric vehicle, electric microcar designed and marketed by Renault. It is classified in Europe as either a Motorised quadricycle#Light quadricycles (L6e), light or Motorised quadricycle#Heavy quadricycles (L7e), h ...

, as well as fourth-generation

Renault Clio The Renault Clio () is a supermini car (B-segment), produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consis ...

and the 2013

Renault Captur The Renault Captur (pronounced as "capture") is a series of subcompact crossover SUVs manufactured by the French automaker Renault. The production version of the first one, based on the B platform, made its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show and ...

. Van den Acker also worked for Volvo, but for very short time.

Design work

* Bugatti vehicles: **

Bugatti Chiron The Bugatti Chiron is a mid-engine two-seater sports car designed and developed in Germany by Bugatti Engineering GmbH and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. The successor to the B ...

* Ford vehicles: ** Ford 24/7 (concept) ** Ford 427 by Joe Baker **

** Ford GloCar (concept) ** Ford Model U (concept) * Mercury vehicles: **

Mercury Mariner The Mercury Mariner is a compact crossover SUV that was introduced in 2005. It is a sibling of the Mazda Tribute and Ford Escape, although it is more upmarket than the other two. The Mariner is Mercury's first car-based SUV, and is slotted be ...

* Mazda vehicles: **

Mazda 3 , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one mi ...

(2009) **

Mazda Hakaze The is a concept car that was revealed in early February 2007 by Japanese manufacturer Mazda. Its major design elements come from a new design language developed by Mazda called Nagare, designed by Laurens van den Acker, which also designed othe ...

(concept) ** Mazda Kiyora (concept) **

Mazda Nagare The (pronounced “nah-gah-reh”) is a concept car that was introduced by Mazda at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show. The Nagare is considered to be an exercise in natural and organic car design to explore the future of Mazda automobiles. Its na ...

(concept) **

Mazda Ryuga The is a concept car introduced by Mazda and partner Ford at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The car, along with the Mazda Nagare which was introduced at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, is an exploratory d ...

(concept) **

Mazda Furai The was a concept car revealed on 27 December 2007 and designed by Swift Engineering and manufactured by Mazda. A teaser image of the vehicle was released on 11 December 2007. The Furai officially debuted at the North American International Auto ...

(concept) * Renault vehicles: **

Renault Arkana The Renault Arkana is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) with a sloping rear roofline produced by the French manufacturer Renault. The car debuted in May 2019 in Russia as a car based on the older Dacia/Renault Duster B0 platform. Another separ ...

(2019) **

(concept) **

IV (2012) ** Renault DeZir (concept) ** Renault Espace V **

Renault Talisman The Renault Talisman is a large family car manufactured by the French car manufacturer Renault since 2015. It replaced the Renault Laguna, as well as the larger Renault Latitude, for which no direct replacement was scheduled. It was produced b ...

Others

Richard Blackburn wrote in an article in Sydney Morning Herald that van den Acker 'still has some of the sketches' of cars 'he penned as a five-year-old, with smoke bellowing from exhausts and cartoon-like lines depicting the wind. He keeps them because they "capture the emotion of motion". In layman's terms that means creating forms and surfaces that look as if they're moving when they're standing still.'

References

External links

Drive.com articleInterview with Laurens van den Acker on design and emotion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acker, Laurens Van Den 1965 births Living people Dutch automobile designers Audi people Ford designers Renault people Volkswagen Group designers Delft University of Technology alumni People from Deurne, Netherlands