MUNICH -- BMW said it has picked Oliver Heilmer to head design at its Mini brand.
Heilmer, 42, is currently president of BMW's Designworks subsidiary. He is based in Los Angeles.
Heilmer will take up the post on September 1, BMW said in a statement on Thursday.
Mini has been without a design boss since Anders Warming quit nearly 12 months ago to head design at Borgward, a German brand that has been revived with Chinese backing.
German press reports had said that former BMW and Mini design executive Frank Stephenson would return to the automaker to head Mini design. But BMW has instead opted for an internal candidate.
Heilmer, who was born in BMW's home city of Munich, has been in charge of Designworks since 2013. Before that he was BMW's head of interior design team.
His challenge at Mini will be to update the UK-based brand's iconic look and lead styling for the marque's new all-electric vehicle.
Heilmer, who joined BMW in 2000, will report to BMW Group design chief Adrian van Hooydonk. His appointment will complete van Hooydonk's new leadership team.
In February, the company said Jozef Kaban will be the new design head at the core BMW brand, replacing Karim Habib. Kaban moves to the BMW role from Volkswagen Group's Skoda brand, where he was head of design.
Holger Hampf will succeed Heilmer as Designworks president. Hampf, 50, currently is responsible for user interface design and realigning BMW's design team for digitalization.
