Franz von Holzhausen (born May 10, 1968 in Simsbury, Connecticut) is an automobile designer, currently (2016) in charge of design at Tesla Motors. He left his position at Mazda North American Operations on July 31, 2008.

He designed the Tesla Model S, an electric premium sedan starting in 2008.

Career

He was also an assistant design chief at Volkswagen. Earlier in Franz's career at Volkswagen, he had an instrumental involvement in the New Beetle concept project, known as "Concept One," under design lead J Mays (Holzhausen saw the New Beetle concept through to production in Germany).

After taking his role at Mazda on February 21, 2005, von Holzhausen led the design of the Mazda Kabura concept car that debuted at the 2006 North American International Auto Show. Prior to this, von Holzhausen designed the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky while Design Director at General Motors.

Notable designs

• New Beetle concept project, known as "Concept One"
• Pontiac Solstice
• Saturn Sky
• Opel GT
• Mazda Kabura concept car 2006
• Mazda Furai
• Tesla Model S 2008
• Tesla Model X 2015
• Tesla Model 3 2016