Anders Warming, who recently quit his post as head of design at Mini, will start a new job at Borgward at the beginning of 2017.
The 43-year-old will assume a newly created board of management position for design at Borgward on 1 January.
The Danish designer worked for the BMW Group for more than 16 years, including the past six years as head of design at Mini. Under his leadership, the company created the new designs of the Cooper Hatch, Convertible and Clubman.
Warming previously worked in various other design positions within the BMW Group as well as with the Volkswagen Group.
Borgward was a major German automaker before it went into liquidation back in 1961. The automaker has now essentially been revived thanks to Chinese backing.
BMW, meanwhile, said Warming left his post on good terms.
“We regret his decision, but this is not dramatic since Borgward is not a direct competitor,” a BMW spokesperson told Automotive News Europe.