Genesis Of A Dream Team

Luxury is not invented here, yet

- Edward Loh

It all started back in 2006 when Kia Motors announced that Peter Schreyer would become its new Chief Design Officer. At the time, this move seemed equally audacious and puzzling: smart hire by Kia boss Eui-sun Chung, the son of Mong-koo Chung, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), but perhaps foolish for Schreyer. After all, what could the smaller automaker offer besides handsome compensation, frequent flyer miles, and a top-down corporate culture? Schreyer, a legit rock star in the design world (with the back-in-black wardrobe to match), already had an impressive résumé that listed icons such as the VW Golf, New Beetle, and Audi TT. He was on the short list to replace VW Group’s design chief, Walter de Silva. Surely, Schreyer had nothing to prove.

His fast start suggested otherwise. At the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, Schreyer introduced the Kia “tiger nose” design cue and began unifying all styling in this aggressive new direction. Meanwhile, seemingly unrelated moves were afoot at HMG; at the 2007 New York auto show, the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan made its debut. In 2011, Hyundai Motor Europe started durability testing at the Nürburgring, and in 2012, HMG quietly established the high-performance development N division, ostensibly named for HMG’s Namyang, Korea, R&D center.