A CAR designer from Malvern will be at the Paris Motor Show next week to show off his latest creation - the new Jaguar XE.

Adam Hatton, aged 42, is the director of exterior design at the famous British car company and last week he was at the star-studded launch of the XE at Earls Court in London, featuring performances from the Kaiser Chiefs, the Royal Ballet and platinum-selling singer Emeli Sande.

Mr Hatton was born in Worcester and went to school at the Wyche Primary and Chase schools before attending the art and design foundation course at Worcester College of Technology.

He said: "I always knew I wanted to be a designer, but originally I though I'd be an architect."

But the lure of car design grew too strong, and after finishing the Worcester course, which he described as "excellent" he was accepted on the famous automotive design course at Coventry University.

He said: "Even when I was there, people used to say that the cars I drew looked like Jaguars. But the first job I got after graduating was with Land Rover, which in those days was a separate company."

He joined Jaguar in 1998, and within two years won a top prize in the Detroit motor show with the first F-Type concept car.

Since then, he has designed the Jaguar XF, launched in 2007, and the XJ luxury saloon, launched in 2009. He now leads exterior design in the company's studio, playing a fundamental role in creating the company's car designs.

He said: "The XE is a smaller sports saloon, but its design embodies all the brand values of the wider Jaguar family.

"It will be manufactured starting next year at a new production facility near Solihull, and I'm proud of the fact that it will create 1,500 new jobs."

Now he is looking forward to the Paris show, where the XE range will be introduced to the world's media.

He said: "It will be very busy, and I'll be spending most of my time talking to the press, but I hope we'll get a little time to ourselves look around and see what the other companies are showing."