Designer
Julian Thomson is Director, Advanced Design for Jaguar, with responsibility for establishing the future strategic design direction for the brand. Working with Design Director Ian Callum, Thomson has been instrumental in delivering the renaissance in design of Jaguar’s product range, including the XK, XF, XJ, F-TYPE sports car and the recently launched XE.
He leads a team of 25 designers in the Advanced Design group, exploring possible concepts for production vehicles up to 10 years in the future. As well as developing the early definitions for new products, the group is also responsible for developing the concept studies which showcase Jaguar’s future design themes and vehicle technologies.
Since joining Jaguar in 2000, Julian has overseen the development of the design concepts for the entire current product range, including the XK, XF and XJ. His team has produced a series of much acclaimed Jaguar design studies, notably the R-Coupe, R-D6, C-XF and C-X75 models. He is also responsible for Jaguar’s Colour and Material design group.
Born in Surrey, England, he studied Mechanical Engineering at Hatfield University before completing an MA in Automotive Design at the Royal College of Art. He began his automotive industry career in 1984 as a designer at Ford in Dunton, England, before moving to Lotus Design in Norwich in 1986. After a 12 year spell at Lotus, during which he became Head of Design, he was appointed Chief of Exteriors at the Volkswagen Group’s Design Centre in Barcelona, Spain.
Julian is considered to be one of this country’s most gifted car designers.