Porsche engineer Rolf Frech named engineering chief at Bentley

The Porsche-ization of luxury-car maker Bentley moved another step forward on Wednesday as Rolf Frech was named as its engineering chief.

Frech, who has been Porsche's director of the complete vehicle engineering group for the past decade, replaces Ulrich Eichhorn, who is set to become head of the VDA, the German auto-industry association.

Eichhorn, 50, joined Bentley as engineering chief in 2003 from Volkswagen, where he had been in charge of research and development. He joined VW in 2000 from Ford Motor Co. The Volkswagen Group bought Bentley in 1998.

Frech, 53, starts his new job in November. He joins Bentley chairman Wolfgang Duerheimer as a Porsche alumnus. Duerheimer took the top job at Bentley in February after working for a decade as Porsche's R&D chief.

At Porsche, Michael Steiner, 47, fills Frech's job. Steiner has been head of the Panamera model line.

By Dale Jewett