Ola Electric hires former Jaguar design chief Wayne Burgess to shape future models

Ola Electric is shoring up its design team, with its first electric scooter planned for launch later this year, and a small electric car in the works as well, for which effect the company has brought on board Wayne Burgess as vice president of design. Ola Electric will set up a global design centre in Bengaluru for its passenger vehicle unit, with another such centre planned in London. The Ola Electric four-wheeler is expected to be a small, affordable city car with limited range, but one that may bring electric mobility to the masses. The company’s proposed Hypercharger network will cater to both electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers, so Ola Electric already may have a leg up if the charging infrastructure is in place before launch. [caption id=“attachment_9591071” align=“alignnone” width=“1895”]  Burgess will lead the design process for Ola Electric’s entire product range including scooters, bikes, cars and more, the company said in a statement. Image: Ola Electric/Jaguar/Tech2[/caption] Burgess has worked for Jaguar Land Rover as chief designer and design director for a majority of the last two decades, has helped shape cars like the Jaguar XF, F-Type, S-Type, XK and XF, not to forget cars under the Special Vehicles Operations (SVO) division such as the Project 7 and 8, and the I-Pace E-Trophy. Burgess joined Jaguar Land Rover in 1997, followed by a two-year stint at Aston Martin Lagonda alongside Ian Callum from which the DB9 and V8 Vantage were born, before moving back to JLR as chief designer. In 2019, Burgess was appointed head of design and vice president of Geely Design UK, for brands such as Lotus, Lynk and Co., Proton etc. In 2020, Burgess joined Paramex, a UK-based design and engineering consultancy.