McLaren Automotive on Friday named Tobias Sühlmann as its new chief design officer.

He replaces Rob Melville who left McLaren last year to join Ceer, the new electric vehicle brand of Saudi Arabia.

Sühlmann has more than two decades of experience in automotive design, most of it earned at the Volkswagen Group. He has previously served as head of exterior design at Bugatti and Aston Martin, and he did a previous stint at McLaren.

His last role prior to his return to lead design at McLaren was as director of design at Bentley.

Tobias Sühlmann

During his previous stint at McLaren, Sühlmann was lead designer for special projects. One of the cars whose design he oversaw was the track-only Solus GT hypercar unveiled last year.

In his new chief design officer role, Sühlmann will lead a team responsible for future concepts, exterior and interior styling, plus color and materials. The team will also work with customers looking to personalize their vehicles.

Sühlmann will also be charged with developing a new design language for McLaren. McLaren's current design language dates back to the P1 hypercar launched a decade ago.