‘As a designer, you have more room to maneuver in a Chinese company’

Wolfgang Egger is one of the world’s leading car designers. He has developed the Q7 SUV for Audi, the R8 sports car, and the first Audi E-tron concept. At Alfa Romeo, he was responsible for the design of the 8C Competizione, among other things. That could have been enough – but it wasn’t enough for him. Now, in his late fifties, Egger is “in the middle of by far the most exciting task of my life,” as he says. Since 2016, he has been chief designer at the southern Chinese manufacturer BYD. At the Shanghai auto show, Egger unveiled BYD’s new EA-1 compact car, which is designed to rival Volkswagen’s ID3, for example. A conversation about iconic compact cars, Chinese design, and what makes working in the People’s Republic different from working in Europe.