06/30/1999 <br>The Globe and Mail <br>Metro <br>Page B11 <br>All material copyright Thomson Canada Limited or its licensors. All rights reserved. <p><br>Detroit -- German-U.S. auto maker DaimlerChrysler AG scored a coup yesterday by hiring a top Volkswagen AG designer credited with developing the New Beetle and the Audi TT coupe. <p><br>DaimlerChrysler, the world's No. 5 auto maker, said it had hired Freeman Thomas, 41, as vice-president of advance design strategy. He had been VW's U.S. design studio chief in Simi Valley, Calif., where he led a team of 40 people. <p><br>Mr. Thomas, along with J. Mays, designed some of VW's hottest cars. Mr. Mays became Ford Motor Co.'s design chief in 1997. <p><br>The California native, who speaks German fluently, said the merger of Chrysler and Germany's Daimler-Benz AG last year made the job opportunity even more attractive. <p><br>"What excites me about DaimlerChrysler is it takes risks," said Mr. Thomas, who began his career at German luxury sports car maker Porsche AG in 1983 and joined VW in 1991. <p><br>Analysts lauded the move. <p><br>"That was rather a coup," Nextrend analyst Wesley Brown said. "What we're clearly seeing is much greater focus by some of the auto makers on design and knowing that design is obviously still very important, maybe even playing a bigger role now with the younger generations." <p><br>Mr. Thomas's hiring is part of a shuffling of top design positions at DaimlerChrysler's U.S. design studios. He will take one of the posts held by Neil Walling, 55, who is retiring today. <p><br>Mr. Walling also handled passenger car and minivan design, which vice-president Trevor Creed will now handle. <p><br>Replacing Mr. Creed as head of truck and Jeep design will be Rick Aneiros, who was promoted from within the company. <p><br>VW officials said they would survive the loss. <p><br>"Freeman was an important member of the team and he will be missed," VW spokesman Doug Clark said. "The good news is that it's a strong team with great depth. "Talented people are always in demand, and with the success of projects Freeman has worked on, it's understandable." <p><br>VW has received a lot of attention recently because of the popularity and strong sales of such new models as the New Beetle, the TT coupe and the Passat mid-sized sedan. <p><br>"The downside of being successful and getting lots of publicity for being on an upswing and having products that are very appealing to the younger generations is the executives responsible for all that will get a lot of offers," Nextrend's Mr. Brown said. <p><p>

 

We TT owners are, for the most part, thrilled with our cars and are happy that Mr. Thomas was with Audi long enough to design such a brilliant vehicle. But as VW/Audi said, he will be missed, but there is much depth to their design team.<p>I think that my hometown San Diego Padres baseball team may help to illustrate VW/Audi's statement. Last year, the Padres went to the World Series. This year, they lost or traded away the majority of their outstanding, seasoned players. These names included Kevin Brown, Ken Caminiti, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley, and more. They were replaced by a bunch of young guys that no one ever heard of. As you might imagine, the fans were pretty unhappy watching all of this experienced talent leave town.<p>Well guess what? These young, mostly unknown players appear to be pretty damn good. While the team started the year slowly, tonight they are shooting for their 12th straight victory. They've got speed, hustle and moxie that most of the veteran players lost years ago.<p>The point here is that the folks running VW/Audi are no dummies. They are one of the most well regarded and progressive automotive companies in the world. While you certainly hate to lose a Freeman Thomas or J. Mays, I wouldn't doubt that the company has much talent in the "minor leagues", just waiting for their opportunity. But even if this doesn't happen, hey I've still got my TT!

 

Good points Brad. But something even more important than a good designer, is a management environment and attitude that is open to new concepts. Credit lies not only with Freeman Thomas and his design team, but also with the top brass at VW/Audi that had the courage to create some truly unique automobiles.<p>I wish him well at Benz, but he'll still need a good design team and open minded senior management. With Chrysler in charge he may get what he needs, but Mercedes doesn't have a great history of openmindedness.<br>

 

nt<br>

 

Thanks and congrats on the TT. What are you geTTing and when are you geTTing it?

 

Cameron has a TT on order? It better be quattro!!! :-) (nt)

 

I thought it was a BoxSter...not a Boxter? Hmmmmm (nt)

 

How would you like to work for the same company all your life?

 

VB