The English Automotive Designer Peter Birtwhistle was born in Reading in the early 1950s. Birtwhistle studied Design at the Berkshire College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, where he graduated in 1973, taking a position at Vauxhall Motors, Luton. In 1977 he moved to Audi, in the German town of Ingolstadt. Here, Birtwhistle contributed to the designs of some of the company's most iconic vehicles, including the Audi 100, 80 and of particular note, the famous Audi Sport Quattro. In 1983 he moved to Porsche in Stuttgart, before joining the Japanese company Mazda in 1988, helping them set up a Design Centre near Frankfurt. As Chief Designer for Mazda Motor Europe, Birtwhistle ended his career in 2014. Although retired, Birtwhistle still maintains touch with his passion for Automotive Design, employed as a lecturer at Coventry University’s Transport Design Course, close to his new home in England, the town of Leamington Spa.