By Kim Da-ye
On Wednesday evening in front of a Hyundai Motor dealership in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, some people in mountain climbing gear gathered and chatted over the shiny black object in the display room behind the glass.
“Is that a Grandeur?” one woman asked.
“I think it’s a Sonata,” another said, adding that she wouldn’t have known the difference if it weren’t the Grandeur name plate attached to the front.
The group of middle-aged men and women peered at the much-hyped vehicle for a while, and one man led them by entering into the dealership to find out more about it.
The Grandeur Fifth Generation (5G) and the Sonata YF look too much alike, many consumers who want to buy a large-sized sedan told this reporter. And that is a problem not only for two specific car models, but also for the rest of Hyundai’s fleet featuring vehicles that increasingly look similar with the showy “fluidic sculpture” design theme.
Since the launch of the Sonata YF model in September 2009, Hyundai Motor has applied the “fluidic sculpture” design to the majority of its vehicles including the Tucson, the Avante, the Accent and the Grandeur. The so-called “family look” was an innovative idea to give unity to the models and to raise brand awareness. Korean cars had lacked unity, which was common among foreign brand cars including BMWs and Audis.
The fluidic sculpture design is best identified by the strong side character lines that extend from the fenders to the tail lamps, the long, slanted headlamps that resemble eagle eyes, the wraparound tail lamps and the wing-like or hexagonal grilles.
Creases that bring to mind the strokes drawn with an Asian writing brush give the vehicles a sleek, liquid look while the coupe-like body style resembles that of the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class.
The automaker calls it the “design philosophy that injects sophistication and dynamic angles as well as elegant lines resembling a calligrapher’s ‘orchid strokes’ into the shape of a vehicle.”
The design that came from Hyundai’s design center in California was an instant hit among U.S. buyers, elevating the automaker’s status in overseas markets.
Over 200,000 Sonatas ― mostly the YF model vehicles known as the 2011 Sonata ― were sold in the U.S. in 2010, helping the automaker sell more than half a million vehicles there and win numerous awards including the 2011 International Car of the Year (ICOTY).
The rest of Hyundai’s fleet followed suit in terms of exteriors, but by the time the Grandeur 5G came out, some domestic consumers were tired of the overly flamboyant design, seeing too much of it on the road. Consider Hyundai enjoyed the 45 percent marketshare at home last year, compared to 4.9 percent in the U.S.
In addition, some middle-aged consumers who can afford the relatively expensive Grandeur felt the design targets younger consumers. They also want the upper-end Grandeur to look more like the upscale Genesis rather than the more affordable Sonata.
Some would even blame the designs for Kia’s stunning rise and Hyundai’s relatively mediocre performance.
Kia Motors, Hyundai’s smaller sister automaker, also created the “family look” when Peter Schreyer, well known for his design of the Audi II, was hired in 2006. Schreyer came up with the famous Tiger Nose grille, face-lifting all Kia models and leading the designing work for the Soul, the Forte series, the Sportage and the Sorento.
The design of the Kia vehicles are rather simple yet bold with funky features here and there such as the mesh grille shaped like a tiger nose, slanted yet sharply-cut headlamps and distinctive wheels. The sedans don’t attempt to look like coupes, and have no bold sidelines. It is a moderated stylishness.
The vehicles that resemble those of the Audi models meet the taste of many self-conscious Korean buyers who want something different but tend to stick to traditions.
Kia Motors did well last year largely due to the renovated design. Between May and December, Kia sold 61,876 K5s while Hyundai sold 83,877 Sonatas YFs. In January, 6,803 of K5s were sold, compared to 6,885 Sonata YFs. Considering Kia is a smaller manufacturer with fewer dealerships, the sales figures are impressive.
Will Hyundai ever abandon the flagship design?
It was recently revealed that Phillip Zak, the chief designer of the Hyundai Design Center in Irvine, Calif., left the firm and joined General Motors for which he had worked as the GM Europe exterior design director. He came in April 2009 to the design center where the look of the Sonata YF was created.
That would, however, have little impact on Hyundai’s designing strategy. The fluidic sculpture was first introduced in the second half of 2009, and a year and a half is too short a time for a company to build strong brand awareness.
Giving up the design principles could cause the soaring global sales to lose momentum. A Hyundai official said that the automaker would keep the design principles.
The fluidic sculpture design faces a sort of a conflict between the domestic interests and the global ones. For instance, the Grandeur 5G ― equipped with features U.S. consumers love ― is an expensive sedan in Korea while it would be purchased by the middle class in the U.S. Wealthy domestic consumers might be discouraged by it, but the fluidic sculpture of the sedan makes sense and is well received in the U.S. market.