Who’s Where: José Carlos Pavone becomes head of design, Volkswagen Brazil

José Carlos ‘JC’ Pavone, the outgoing head of exterior design at Volkswagen’s Design Center California (DCC), has taken over the position of head of design, Volkswagen Brazil, this month. He replaces Luiz Veiga, who is retiring after 34 years at the Volkswagen Group.

Pavone, 38, has spent 14 years working for the Volkswagen Group so far, including seven years in Wolfsburg. His CV includes the US-market Passat, the Jetta, the 2010 New Compact Coupé concept and the T-Roc concept from 2014.

2014 T-Roc concept

He took over from Sangyup Lee at DCC in 2012, when Lee moved to Bentley. From São Paulo, he studied product design at Mackenzie University, and he began his career in Mercedes-Benz’s Brazilian truck and bus studio before joining Volkswagen in 2002.

“I’m happy to get back to the country where I was born and to take over the position from Luiz, who opened the doors of car design for me and my brother Marco,” he told us.

JC (left) with twin brother Marco Antonio (right)

JC’s twin brother, Marco Antonio, currently leads the exterior design team at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg studio. Aged 12, the Pavone twins sent a collection of their car drawings to Veiga after reading an interview with him in a Brazilian newspaper, and they credit him as a career mentor. “He gave us lots of tips about how to become a car designer, and good feedback about our drawings. Ten years later, we both worked for him at the studio in Brazil, and shortly after, we moved to Germany,” JC says.