Hyundai seeks premium ranks with new design

Design chief hints new Genesis will become a game-changer


It was on a rare occasion that Hyundai Motor’s design center opened its doors to the media.

To enter the guarded facility, visitors are required to pass through two checkpoints. At the first one, all identification cards and laptops are submitted, while security stickers seal shut the cameras, including those in mobile phones.

Security seems air-tight at this Gyeonggi Province-based facility, more so at this time as the next generation Genesis is poised to hit the markets.

A fleeting glimpse of a wing-shaped badge ― Genesis’ trademark logo ― suggested that the new Genesis may be one of sedans spotted racing down the roads for test-drives on the center grounds, shrouded under black covers.

Oh Suk-geun, head of the carmaker’s design center and senior executive vice president at Hyundai Motor Group, would not comment on what rested beneath the sheets.

“This is going to be a game changer in the premium segment” was all Oh would reveal, adding that finishing touches were in the making to launch the vehicle late next year.

To bring Genesis up to par with its European competition, Oh ― who oversees six design centers located in Korea, the United States and Europe ― hinted that Hyundai may diversifying lineups for the Genesis models, similar to the series classification adopted by BMW.

Hyundai, still regarded by many as a carmaker of only cheap and compact cars, has a reason for being so “hell-bent” on cultivating a premium image, Oh said.

“Hyundai needs a dramatic shift in key capabilities for future growth and gaining a premium image is the most important solution,” he said.

He admitted that many of Hyundai’s competitors have made failed attempts to break into the upscale segment that is largely dominated by German carmakers BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

Japan’s Toyota Motor still sells its Lexus vehicles in limited markets, while European carmakers such as Renault and Peugeot have yet to be successful in selling high-end cars. 

“It may sound hopeless. But we know that the audacity of Koreans sometimes creates a new opportunity,” he said, citing the earlier skepticism about the Genesis that now sells some 2,000 units every month in the North American market.

Oh entered Hyundai in 1984, right after graduating from Seoul National University where he studied industrial design. He was the 13th car designer at the then “small company,” he said.

At the time, Hyundai was working on the next generation of Pony, the first Korean passenger car designed by the legendary car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.

“Hyundai was largely dependent on the Italian designer. Because his agency was doing projects for other carmakers as well, its car design had no unique color until then,” he recalled.

A turnaround in Hyundai’s car design came in 1990 when a team of Korean designers unveiled the nation’s first coupe Scoupe after a fierce competition with an Italian design team. The car later affected the design of Hyundai’s first sports car Tiburon.

“I had never imagined Hyundai would become a global company as it is now. We used to hope to grow big enough to compete with Mitsubishi that supported us at the time,” he said.

In the 1980s, Japan’s Mitsubishi was selling 1 million cars, while Hyundai’s car deliveries remained at less than 100,000 units.

Now Hyundai, which owns Hyundai and Kia brands, has become the world’s fifth-largest company selling 6 million cars last year, gobbling up the global market share of Toyota and Volkswagen.

And the carmaker has become a workplace where talented car designers are willing to work, with the number of designers surging from 30 in the 1980s to 450 today.

Hyundai’s design center in the U.S. is currently led by former BMW designer Christopher Chapman, while its sister unit Kia Motors has Peter Schreyer, the former design chief at Volkswagen, as the design chief since 2006.

“I’m proud that many former Hyundai designers are now working for other global carmakers. Their working experience at Hyundai is highly recognized across industries,” Oh said.

“I believe design has played a pivotal role in elevating Hyundai’s global presence. Of course, the company’s advanced engineering prowess has met the designers’ vision.”

Since Oh took office as the design center chief in 2007, Hyundai has carried out diverse experiments in car design, ranging from the voluminous transformation of its flagship models Avante, Sonata and Grandeur to the three-door compact Veloster and the best-selling hatchback i30.

Under the existing philosophy of “Fluidic Sculpture,” Oh said that Hyundai’s future car design would become less “talkative” than it is now.

“So far, we have taken a very dramatic approach to express our identity and impress consumers. I think it’s time to introduce more defined design with more value added,” he said.

“We will continue efforts to maintain the dynamic and aggressive image of Hyundai cars. In the longer term, I hope design will become Hyundai’s key competitiveness.”

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)