Markus Leo Scholten

I started in 1991 at Karmann in Germany as an apprentice in sheet-metal body building and automotive fabrication, forming prototype vehicle panels by hand. While working at Karmann, I completed my Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) in Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Fachhochschule Osnabrück.

After earning my engineering degree, I moved into Design Release Engineering across Audi, Volkswagen, Opel, BMW, Range Rover, and Mercedes-Benz programs, and served as Resident Engineer at BMW.

That sequence set the standard for everything after it. When you have shaped sheet metal over a buck and fitted closures on a prototype body yourself, every flange, radius, and tolerance stack you draw in CAD already respects how a part is actually made.

At Fisker Automotive I served as Director of Engineering for the Sunset Convertible, Lead Engineer for roof systems across Karma, Sunset, and Atlantic, and Design Release Engineer for Exteriors and Paint. Unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, the Fisker Sunset combined Fisker's plug-in hybrid platform with a fully retractable hardtop, giving the car the elegance of a coupe and the open-air feel of a convertible.

I was responsible for the complete engineering development of the retractable hardtop system: mechanism architecture, kinematics, body integration, packaging, structural engineering, suppliers, and prototype validation. Packaging a fully automated roof inside that silhouette while preserving design intent meant balancing engineering precision, manufacturability, durability, and customer experience.

In Munich, I also served as Resident Engineer for the Fisker Surf, leading the engineering development of the Body-in-White and signature power liftgate system across design, engineering, suppliers, and prototype manufacturing.

Building a one-off proves proportions. Repeating it every week proves the tooling and the engineering. As VP of Engineering at US Specialty Vehicles, I led the complete re-body development program for the Rhino XT and personally engineered and helped build the first two Rhino prototypes.

From those initial vehicles, I recruited and led engineers and fabricators to industrialize the program into low-volume production, establishing tooling, fixtures, build processes, and assembly capability targeting approximately 100 vehicles per month.

I also redesigned the G. Patton build process, reducing build time from approximately six months to four weeks and establishing assembly capability targeting approximately 20 vehicles per month.

Based on the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S platform, the WILL.I.AMG show vehicle for will.i.am required a complete re-architecture of the upper body to achieve the proportions of a classic grand touring coupe. The windshield, firewall, instrument panel, and seating position were relocated 12 inches rearward, allowing an extended hood, a redesigned roofline, and conversion from conventional front-hinged doors to rear-hinged suicide doors.

As Contract Vehicle Development Lead, I led the digital development of the exterior, creating the complete Class-A and B-surface geometry and engineering every body panel for manufacturability, fit, and assembly.

During construction at West Coast Customs, I worked directly with the build team on the shop floor and personally resolved CAD and hardware issues through final show-car execution.

Running parallel to client consulting since 2012, I conceived, engineered, and physically built my own tilting vehicles from a clean sheet of paper. First came CTx: a fully functional tilting three-wheel prototype measuring 36 in (914 mm) wide with an Aprilia RSV1000R powertrain. Every part of CTx, from initial vehicle architecture, chassis engineering, suspension geometry, and steering to powertrain integration, fabrication, and on-road testing, was developed from scratch.

CTx validated the core tilting-vehicle technology that became the foundation of Trinova Mobility and its commuter vehicle, Trinity: an ultra-narrow, lightweight electric commuter with active self-balancing technology, conceived, engineered, fabricated, and validated entirely by me.

Through four working prototype generations, I personally developed the vehicle architecture, CAD, structures, chassis and suspension, packaging, mechanisms, controls, and EV integration while coordinating suppliers and fabrication.

The goal is not just to create attractive concepts, but to engineer, package, build, test, and refine vehicle systems until they work in the real world. Every project is developed with a focus on engineering excellence, manufacturability, cost, and real-world performance.

Moving closures and body mechanisms run through the entire body of work: convertible roofs that fold and seal at Karmann and Fisker, the Fisker Surf power liftgate, the rear-hinged suicide doors on WILL.I.AMG, and two granted US patents as co-inventor for an automobile door or window at Nikola Corp.

Combining CATIA and SolidWorks engineering depth with fabrication knowledge, supplier management, and multidisciplinary team leadership makes it possible to work without translation loss between the screen and the shop. I am equally effective as a technical lead or individual contributor.