In its quest to becoming the number one selling auto brand by the year 2018, Volkswagen understands that not only does quality matter, but also appearances. Volkswagen has already recruited Walter de Silva has its head of design from Alfa Romeo back in 1998. Since then, he has worked his magic on such Volkswagen brands like SEAT and Audi. So why isn't this enough to take the company in the direction they want?

Simple. Italdesign is one of the top auto design firms in the world (Pininfarina also comes to mind) and its collection of top designers are extremely valuable. But that's not the big picture. Volkswagen needs good designs in order to overtake Toyota as the largest automaker. Not that Toyota makes the best looking cars (it never has), this is just one more element needed to make the goal a reality. With Volkswagen Group already owning Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, SEAT, Skoda, it will be making some of the most beautiful and influential cars in the near future.

With a top design team in place, Volkswagen may finally begin to win over American buyers - they key element to becoming number one.