Hyundai’s vice president of design says that his mission is to make the Korean automaker’s vehicles “sexier than” those from Alfa Romeo.
Speaking to Automotive News, SangYup Lee – who moved to the brand from Bentley in June 2016 – said that many brands had drawn inspiration from the Italians.
“The car is an emotional product. We want to maximise emotional value to it. The Alfa Romeo and Maserati, those are really sexy cars, even the Germans got a lot of influence from the [Italian] cars,” he told the US-based publication.
“That emotional, sensuous beauty, you don’t find that in the volume brands. For Hyundai to be sexier than Alfa Romeo, this is the mission we want to achieve.
“I’d like to see people [say], ‘Hyundai has some sexy cars. Sexier than Alfa Romeo’. That is the message I’d like to give to the world,” the 48-year-old said.
Lee added that the automaker had plans to give each of its new vehicles a distinct personality rather than having each doggedly adhering to a “family look”.
“Sensuous sportiness is one thing, but at the same time, if you take a look at Hyundai cars, all the fronts look the same. We used to use the design strategy called ‘family look’, so the same face on the car. Starting from this car [the Le Fil Rouge concept], we’re not using this strategy anymore.
“The Hyundai look [will be] more [like] chess. You see chess as a king, queen, bishop, knight. They all look different, they function differently, but when together, they became one team,” he explained.
