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NEWS
Kia designer won't go with the flow
Peter Schreyer's work owes nothing to Hyundai's fluidic sculpture look... not even by avoidanceKia's Chief Design Officer acknowledges that the corporate look he has championed bears no resemblance to the Fluidic Sculpture theme of Kia's parent company, Hyundai.
"I think that we have more of an architectural approach and [Hyundai has] a very formal or sculptural approach," Peter Schreyer told Aussie journalists in Paris for the motor show last week. "I am very happy that there is this difference between the two and they have a different way of working and thinking... I think it's good."
The two brands boast very different styling cues, and the appearance of products built on the same platforms and sharing drivetrain components could not be further apart. Indeed, Ford's Focus and the Renault Megane could be mistaken for each other from a distance, whereas Kia's Optima and the Hyundai i45 look nothing alike.
But to suggest that Kia's design honcho goes out of his way to ensure 'his' cars cannot be confused with Hyundai's brings a swift response in the negative.
"When we do a design, the thinking is not: 'How can we not do a Hyundai?' It would be like running away from something and... with a certain self-confidence we do what we think is right and go in this direction. And this makes us unique in a way, I think."
Although Hyundai has named its styling theme 'Fluidic Sculpture' and its subsequent development path 'Storm Edge' – for the Santa Fe – Kia and its design chief have chosen not to take that route.
"Naming a style is something that's important for journalists and marketers... but I do not concentrate on trying to find a style, I [just] find a style," Mr Schreyer explained.
Questioned as to whether Kia might take on board the quirkiness of Hyundai's Veloster for one of Kia's own models, the former Audi stylist responded straight to the point.
"I think that sometimes you need something to stand out – and if you don't have the guts you don't get the glory – [but] we are not bringing [out] a car with three doors. We try to make unique solutions and I think things like this always have to have some kind of a meaning or a reason. The unusual is good, but it should also somehow have a meaning to it."
That is justification of sorts for the boxy and practical Soul – and presumably the sportier Trackster if and when that car goes into production. Finding that balance between form and function seems characteristic of the Kia exec and meshes with his personal interest in art. Currently almost 60 pieces of his work – in acrylic – are on display in Seoul in an exhibition entitled: 'Peter Schreyer: inside out'.
"What I'm showing in that exhibition is more like a diary... it's like a portrait of myself over the years..." he says, by way of explaining the exhibition's title. A number of the pieces feature "very personal stuff that's so abstract you wouldn't understand what it is..."
But he also gets a buzz out of painting pictures of aircraft, among them warbirds of the pre-jet era, and biplanes. Mr Schreyer has flown a dual-control North American P51 Mustang of World War Two vintage in Florida, and spoke with passion of flying the powerful fighter plane at "350 knots" and "50 feet" above the ground.
When not flitting around the world promoting Kia's design strengths, Mr Schreyer lives with his family in Bavaria, although his son is currently in London pursuing an academic qualification in design and communications. Asked how his high-profile role affected him personally, and whether he felt stress being the bloke his employer has placed on the highest pedestal, Mr Schreyer answered from the perspective of any designer working for a car company.
"Of course we have a very high responsibility as designers, because the up and down of the company depends on what we are doing. But if you have that in mind all the time, while you're working, it slows you down and makes you cramped. I think it's important to have this kind of excitement in yourself – and not [feel] like 'oh s...t!'...
"I think [Kia] gave me a lot of freedom... they stand behind [the design work] and... it's obvious that they are proud of what's happening...
"It gives us in design a lot of confidence..."
Confidence begets confidence and the company has plenty of work ahead for the designer and his 200 to 250 staff, spread across three major design centres around the world: South Korea, the US and Germany. A secondary annex exists in Seoul and there's a small team of designers based in Shanghai surveying the market there. But that's as far as Kia will go.
"We are not planning a fourth, big design centre," Mr Schreyer said. "To be honest, I'm not so keen about that, because the more design centres... the harder it is to bring it all in one direction. I would rather have three good big ones [design centres] and we all know what we're doing."
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Written byKen Gratton
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