Hyundai aims for BMW, VW on design

HWASEONG, South Korea (Reuters) : South Korea’s Hyundai Motor, having surged past Japanese competition, is tweaking its design to match offerings from Germany’s Volkswagen and BMW in a bid to position its cars in a higher market segment.

Hyundai, once seen as a downscale mass-market competitor that competed mostly on price, has developed a “fluidic sculpture design” concept that has won admirers, while its Kia Motors affiliate brought in former Audi/Volkswagen designer Peter Shreyer to create a distinctive design.

“In my view, a t German carmakers car guys are in charge of the business and focus on products. At U.S. carmakers, bean counters run operations,” Oh Suk-geun, head of Hyundai Design Center, told visiting journalists on Friday.

Kia’s Schreyer was brought into Kia by 41-year old Chung Eui-sun, the vice-chairman of Hyundai Motor and the only son of Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo.

Hyundai in December hired former BMW designer Christopher Chapman as chief designer at its U.S. design centre.

Hyundai, which with Kia, is the world’s fifth largest car maker by volume, saw its sales in Germany, Europe’s biggest car market rise by 50 per cent in January from a year earlier.

 Kia more than doubled its sales , according to recent data.

Hyundai Motor is to launch a new version of its Genesis premium sedan in late 2013. It will follow with new models of its Sonata sedan and Tucson SUV.

“We were a fast follower in the past. It was a shame, but it was a me-too strategy. It was a strategy to survive,” Oh said.

“But now we are the world’s top five car maker, and our own design is a must-do.”