Small cars with interesting designs such as the Volkswagen Beetle or the Audi TT may have a Korean rival in about a year as Kia Motors Corp. ambitiously brainstorms for creativity. A compact car with character or emotional design is one of the many projects Kia is currently working on, according to the company’s chief officer Peter Schreyer.
“When you buy a car, it’s more of an emotional decision — of course you consider the price and performance, but first you have to see the car and like it,” Schreyer said in an interview with The Korea Herald.
“It is true that Korea is a prestige-oriented market and people tend to think ‘the bigger a car, the better,’ but I think the younger generation, who are connected to the internet and global fashion, music or games, will have different expectations and we should deal with that.”
Schreyer, who left Volkswagen AG to join Kia a year ago, agreed with the reporter that the landscape of cars in Korea is very monochromatic.
“You see a lot of silver, white and dark grey cars on the roads, and I guess they all want to be on the safe side in terms of both colors and design,” he said. “This is largely because Korea has been a very closed market, almost like an island.”
Schreyer noted that thanks to the lack of influence from international car culture, the Korean market has written its own rules, but when the market opens up more under free trade agreements, it will change the Korean car industry.
“What you see is what you know, and if you know what you think you saw, that’s all there is,” said the 53-year-old executive.
“I see a lot of very good Korean design in cell phones, television sets and computers, and the Korean car industry is following this,” he said. “We are about to make cars that catch a lot more attention in the international market, and this will reflect on the Korean market as well.”
One of the most imminent tasks for the former VW design boss, whose styling achievements include the first Audi TT, is to develop a unique family look for Kia.
Whereas prestige car marques like BMW, Audi or Mercedes-Benz have their own front-end designs that are recognizable from a distance, Kia isn’t highly distinguishable as of yet.
“The face or front-end of Kia cars are all different at the moment, especially in overseas markets,” Schreyer said. “Developing a unique front-end to raise awareness of Kia will be a living process. We’re starting to do this and it may never end.”
Meanwhile, Kia’s sports coupe concept named “Kee,” that was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, gives a glimpse of future Kia cars concerning the face of the car.
“The name Kee sounds like the English word ‘key’ so this means that it’s a key product that opens the door into the future of Kia,” Schreyer said. “It shows what a sporty car for young consumers could be like.”
The design chief believes in the “simplicity of the straight line,” which means he likes to reduce things to simple forms.
“Cosmetic design, with a lot of decoration and obvious effects, can only grab short attention and doesn’t last long. I believe more in a clear architecture or clear proportion, simple cut-lines and details,” he said. “This way we can create our own character for Kia.”
Albeit lacking a unique look, Hyundai-Kia’s recent car designs increasingly meet the tastes of consumers around the world and this may be because there is a global trend in styling. Some cars are accused for copying another’s design.
“In car design, there is fashion, like showing certain lines on the sides of the car,” Schreyer said. “Every car influences other cars, and no designer can delete in his head the impression of other cars he saw, and it’s a good thing that a designer has antennas to look around the world and see different trends.”
Automakers have similar technologies, and every car needs to be sold in different countries with different regulations. This may make cars similar or comparable, but on the other hand, it is a big challenge for car designers to create a unique look for the company they are working for, he said.
“In a way, we don’t ‘follow the trend;’ as car designers we make the taste of the customers.”
Over the past year at Kia, the German design chief has often been fascinated by Korean arts and culture, some aspects of which could possibly inspire his work. He is a fan of sculptures made of mulberry paper by a contemporary artist called Chun Kwang-young.
[Source: Koreaherald]
