McLaren’s old design boss is now working for Porsche

Interesting news in the world of car design. McLaren’s design boss Tobias Sühlmann has departed Woking’s exacting embrace and shipped off to Germany where he’ll become the new head of design for Porsche.

That means he’ll replace Porsche’s long-serving design boss Michael Mauer, who for the last twenty-plus years has been responsible for… a lot.

“Michael Mauer shaped an era at Porsche,” said Porsche boss Michael Leiters… who was also boss of McLaren. And a key figure at Ferrari before that. “Together with his team, he has carefully brought the iconic design of the 911 into the modern era and at the same time unmistakably transferred the Porsche design DNA to new model series.”

Leiters cites the Panamera, the revised Cayenne, and of course the game-changing 918 Spyder among his many accomplishments since 2004. “Timeless design needs both: durability and new impulses,” Mauer said. “Now is a good time to bring new perspectives to the design as well.”

That new perspective comes courtesy of Sühlmann, who’d been McLaren’s creative boss since 2023, having already done work for Woking on the Solus GT. Sühlmann's credits also include stints at Bugatti, Aston Martin and even Bentley, where he was “significantly involved” in the design of the Batur.

How do you reckon he’ll change – quite literally – the face of Porsche? Answers below.