Kia lineup will get new look

Design chief aims to repeat his success at Audi
James B. Treece | Automotive News / April 30, 2007 - 1:00 am /

SEOUL - After several SUVs debuted at the Paris auto show in September, Kia design chief Peter Schreyer compared their profiles to the company's Sportage SUV.

Most were indistinguishable, but the Sportage "sticks out," Schreyer says. Even so, he says, he will make the next Sportage "more masculine and sporty."

Schreyer, 53, hired by Kia five months ago, aims to remake the design look of the entire Kia line. He is likely to repeat the methods he used at Audi - completely redoing one car at a time - until all Kias share a family look.

"We have the challenge and opportunity to shape the Kia brand," he tells Kia staffers.

Push it, refine it

Although Kia says it wants its cars to be exciting and enabling, Schreyer says that's not enough. "Every company's cars are exciting and enabling," he says. "We need to build up the design philosophy and influence the brand values. I want to push it, to refine it."

One task will be to distinguish Kia's products from its sister brand, Hyundai, but Schreyer is not obsessed with that.

"My thinking all day long is not how to differentiate from Hyundai; I think all day how to make Kia a unique brand. Otherwise, I'd spend all day running away," he says.

Before the German native joined Kia, he spent his career at Volkswagen and Audi.

Schreyer helped change Audi's bland look by redoing the styling of the entire product line, starting with the A2. He is best known as the stylist behind the iconic Audi TT.

He implies that Kia will go through the same sort of transformation. That suggests he will restyle each car completely, one at a time, rather than tweaking all Kia nameplates slightly as soon as possible.

"It took 20 years for Audi to get where it is," Schreyer says.

Hints of change

A trio of recent Kia concept cars show the first hints at Schreyer's design direction for the Korean brand.

They are the Kue crossover concept, designed in California and unveiled in January at the Detroit auto show; the ex_cee'd convertible, designed at Kia's studio in Germany and unveiled at the Geneva show; and the KND-4, an SUV designed at Kia's studio in Korea and unveiled at the Seoul auto show this month.

The concepts indicate not only Kia's styling direction but Schreyer's plans for using its three studios.

Some companies treat the studios that are far away from headquarters as subordinate satellites. Schreyer says he won't do that.

"I want to see them as a trilogy," he says. "I want the designers in the studios to feel like one team."

Although he is based in Frankfurt, Schreyer visits Seoul monthly for about a week at a time. He usually meets the heads of the three studios then.

Kia's studios outside Korea won't be relegated to working on concept cars only.

"At the moment, all three are working on serious production cars," Schreyer says. "This is also because we have a lot of work to do."