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The South Korean car maker is leaving a strong impression in this car segment, thanks to the European engineering and design experts it has acquired into its team
As South Korea’s leading automotive manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Company has long been the purveyor of stately cars. However, things are rapidly changing. As early as 2006, it has taken a clear change in direction by welcoming into its fold some of the top European engineering and executive-level talents in the industry, in a bid to overtake the Japanese and plausibly, the Europeans.
It is thus no surprise that the current fleet of Hyundai cars has taken on a distinctive European flavour in its design. This can be attributed to German automotive designer Peter Schreyer, formerly of Audi Design, who was president and chief design officer at Hyundai’s parent company, Hyundai Motor Group, from 2013 to 2018. He was responsible for the conglomerate’s long‑term design vision and differentiation, and also took charge of building upon Hyundai’s successful design philosophy of “Fluidic Sculpture”, which focuses on melding graceful, organic silhouettes with high levels of craftsmanship.
Last year, Schreyer became the president of Hyundai/Kia Design Management, vacating his design chief seat for Luc Donckerwolke, a former Volkswagen Group designer who was executive design vice president for Hyundai and its more upmarket sister, Genesis.
(Related: Hyundai Makes Waves As It Changes The Game For Electric Cars In Singapore)
THE NEXT FRONTIER
However, Hyundai wants to do more with its cars than just European styling. It wants to ensure that these cars boast a handling with class-leading European demeanour and dynamics as well. To this end, the marque decided to step up its game and launched the N programme, a line of high‑performance road-ready cars inspired by its motorsport technology, in 2015.
Officially, the “N” here stands for Namyang, an area in the city of Hwaseong in South Korea where Hyundai’s main R&D centre is located. But the letter could very well stand for Nürburgring, too, after Hyundai opened a vehicle testing facility at the famous German circuit in 2013. With the test centre, the marque has been able to better and more frequently evaluate and develop the durability and driving dynamics of its cars.