Schreyer to oversee design in Hyundai, Kia

Based on article from KoreaTimes January 2013

Hyundai Motor Group announced Sunday that it has promoted Peter Schreyer to president of Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors to supervise the two automakers’ design sectors.

Previously, he shortly served as president of Kia Motors after being promoted to the position from vice president and chief design officer in a regular year-end reshuffle of the automotive group last year.

“The post has been newly created for him to supervise design in the two sister automakers and create a synergy effect,” an official from the group said. “He has been given a mission to come up with a long-term vision and strategies in design for the two brands and to enhance design competitiveness.”

Through the appointment, he will support the two sister automakers to develop their own design identities and pass on his expertise and experience to nurture talented car designers, the official said.

Hyundai Motor has boasted a fluidic sculpture design that is identified with the strong sidelines, the slanted, eagle-eye headlamps and the upside-down hexagonal grille applied to the majority of its vehicles such as the Sonata YF, the Grandeur HG, the Avante and the Tucson.

Meanwhile, based on the design philosophy of “the simplicity of the straight line,” Kia models have shared family looks with distinguishing grilles, applied to the K series _ the K3, K5, K7 and K9.

 The improved design competitiveness has contributed to the success of the two automakers, which sold about 7.12 million vehicles globally last year, up 8 percent from the previous year.

“We believe the design plays an important role in further enhancing the quality of our products and boosting sales. We think Schreyer’s expertise in car design will contribute to strengthen our competitiveness and help the group become a leading global brand,” the official said.

Schreyer joined the group in 2006 as design director after working at Audi for more than 25 years and become the first non-Korean president of the country’s second largest conglomerate last year.