Karma lands experienced interior design head
Nicholas David joins from an illustrious career across various global automakers as Karma looks to expand in coming years
Experienced design head Nicholas David has joined electric vehicle start-up Karma as interior design director. He will oversee the wider interior design team as the brand pursues a “premium luxury expression.” David will be based at Karma’s Design Centre in Irvine, California, a 12,000-square-foot studio that opened in January 2020.
David brings useful experience from his time at Honda, General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, as well as more bespoke projects at Aria Group. Most recently he has worked with GAC in Los Angeles in an exteriors-focussed role, but his new position with Karma will naturally place a greater emphasis on all things interiors.
Increasingly, this kind of role requires an understanding of the broader user experience and integration of emerging cockpit technologies – and not only the bread and butter of colour, materials and finishing (CMF), seating and interior furnishing.
David will “undoubtedly raise our interior design standards even further,” noted David Hilton, Karma’s Senior Director of Global Designs and Brand. Hilton himself joined Karma in March 2021, also hopping across from Chinese automaker GAC. Hilton told Car Design News that the brand is hoping to evoke “a sense of attitude and romance.”
For now, Karma is still in the early stages of carving out a presence in the industry, and its approach to design continues to evolve. “I am excited to join the talented design team at Karma Automotive at a time when the design language is undergoing a radical change,” David commented on his new position. “I look forward to lead the interior design direction and strategy to a new level of execution and to solidify Karma’s interior spaces through their premium luxury expression.”
The GS-6 premium sports coupe was recently revealed during the New York International Auto Show in April 2022, albeit as part of a retailer’s wider booth. For a better idea of where the brand is headed in coming years, Car Design News recently spoke with Karma’s design team during Car Design Dialogues North America. The recording is available on demand here.
Elsewhere in the world of automotive design, the shift around at Dacia continues. Earlier in May, David Durand succeeded Miles Nürnberger as vice president of design, with Nürnberger only in the job for less than a year.