The Designers Pt7 – Brian Lee, Hyundai

The year has gone by so fast. The chance to take up this position happened quite suddenly but it’s such a great opportunity. Before I was in charge of the styling group in the Korean studio so the biggest difference is that I am now global.

My job is to be in charge of all Hyundai’s studios, which includes our facilities in Japan, China, Germany, American and of course Korea. We also have a design centre in India so I’m travelling all over the world. It’s a lot of responsibility. I have 400 designers reporting to me, while I only report to our head of R&D and Peter Schreyer, Hyundai’s chief design officer.

The great thing about travelling between our facilities is that I have the opportunity to experience other cultures and understand our customers. In each of our studios we are developing models for specific markets so each one has its own personality. Sometimes we have some reviews together but really they are working independently, but towards the same goal.

I do have some overseas experience though – I studied at the Royal College of Art in London for a year and I also worked in the European design centre for seven years. My main observation about the European car market is that heritage is very important. Look at how Mini uses its own history, for example, and how successful it has been with that story. Without any history, there is no meaning. This is why, five years ago we made our own design philosophy called ‘fluidic sculpture’.

“These days there is no trend – we have to find out our own solutions, our own way, our own design”

Of course we attend design conferences, look at magazines or perhaps the fashion field, as well as attending all the major motor shows, when we are finding out about some possible futures for design. But my opinion is that these days there is no trend – we have to find out our own solutions, our own way, our own design.

Currently we are working on how to make a little more differentiation between Hyundai and Kia with Mr Schreyer – as he is also the head of Kia design and is now also thinking about Hyundai he has a very good insight. I am in constant communication with him, not only talking about the big ideas, but he is also very interested in discussing the details. I’m learning a lot from him.

Of course I have some plans to put some new processes in place but I can’t say exactly what they are right now. But in terms of design we are evolving fluidic sculpture. Our previous designs were very strong and dynamic, but we realised that many customers complained about the shape and said it was a little too much. So we are now adjusting the strategy slightly – metering it and evolving. It has to be an evolution – I don’t want to divide it into ‘first stage, second stage’ – this is a steady evolution with consistency.

At this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Car Design News launched its second Car Design Review yearbook, featuring the production and concept cars our judges voted as best designs of the past year.

As last year, we’ll be publishing world-exclusive interviews with the 13 design judges who decided on the recipient of each of our awards, featuring their individual votes, their views on the year just gone plus their hopes for the year ahead.

If you’re interested in buying a copy of the yearbook this interview appears in, alongside trend reports, bespoke car design infographics and a special feature on our Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Car Design Review 2 can be purchased here.

Brian Lee

Name Brain Lee
Role Senior design VP, Hyundai
Age, nationality 54, South Korean
Location Seoul, South Korea
Education Kookmin University, South Korea and RCA, London

Brian’s cars of 2014

Concept:

1. Maserati Alfieri
2. BMW Vision Future Luxury
3. Toyota FT-1

Production:

1. Jeep Renegade
2. Lamborghini Huracán
3. Renault Espace