Kia’s head of design has explained the South Korean firm’s decision to “evolve” its signature tiger nose grille.
Karim Habib, who heads up design for Kia, was speaking to journalists during an online media session attended by CARmag.co.za.
Making reference to the freshly revealed EV6, Habib said although the tiger-nose grille had become a “recognisable iconic feature” for the Kia brand, “here we wanted to evolve that in the digital era”.
“We definitely want to keep the ‘tiger nose’ in one shape or form. We want to keep that recognisability – that consistency – for all Kia products,” he said.
“What you see [on the new EV6] is what we like to think of as the ‘digital tiger face’. As we move away from the grille that is really there to be an air intake, it’s more [a case of] how to combine all the elements in the front and how to create an identity in the front that is based in the tiger nose,” the 51-year-old explained.
Interestingly, Habib suggested future Kia products – including internal combustion engine (ICE) models – would each feature “different variations” of the latest “digital tiger face”.
“You will see consistency in that kind of interpretation of the tiger nose or the tiger face. But you will see different variations of its for different products – for our EVs as well as for our ICEs, as well as our sedans and our SUVs. So all of these different concepts will have different interpretations of our digital tiger face,” he said.
