Tesla officially confirmed the rumors that a top Aston Martin engineer, Chris Porritt, has departed from the British company to work for the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker. He is quite a catch for Tesla, since as Aston’s Chief Engineer of Vehicle Engineering Chris was the man in charge of the Aston Martin One-77  hyper car, and he did a cracking job.

With more than 25 years of experience at the highest levels of the auto industry, Porritt will help Tesla with ambitious expansion plans. Following the success of the Model S they are plotting a range of new models, including a crossover, a more affordable sedan to slot below the Model S, and a new sports car as the successor to the Tesla Roadster. That part of the factory that was left empty before is being quickly filled with new machinery and assembly lines.

After graduating from Hatfield Polytechnic, Chris spent 10 years at Land Rover where he began as a college intern and rose to the role of principle engineer in Vehicle Dynamics. He joined Aston Martin in 1997 and established a new engineering team who was the backbone to the formation of the new modern Aston Martin as we know it. Their latest innovation was the VH platform cars which is used in all modern Astons.

“Tesla is a hardcore technology company, which means that anyone leading a team of engineers must be an outstanding engineer themself, as well as a good leader,” said Elon Musk, Tesla co-founder and CEO. “Chris demonstrated exactly that in his prior role at Aston Martin, creating in the One-77 what was arguably their best car ever.”

“I look forward to driving new standards for vehicle engineering innovation in the Model S, Model X and future vehicle lines,” Porritt said. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring technologies normally reserved for supercars to the high volume market.”