"We're due a renaissance" in cool small cars says Hyundai design boss

Global interest in South Korean culture is helping Hyundai make more unusual cars, Hyundai Design Center head Simon Loasby tells Dezeen in this interview.

"We're the outsider, but a very accepted outsider, possibly because of K-pop and K-media having a positive influence, which sprinkles onto us as well," said Loasby.

"So we do have the opportunity to be a bit zany with it, and if you look at media and so on, we're associated with that momentum where we can experiment and maybe it's easier to be more innovative then."

South Korean pop music and film have become wildly popular over the past decade, establishing the country as a major creative force on the international stage.

"I feel so fortunate to live in Seoul with the focus on creativity in music, film, architecture, fashion, beauty – there's the K factor," said Loasby.

"Maybe there's something there which is inspiring us to go further as well. This little country, South Korea, is having a huge global impact, and I guess we're part of the momentum."

"Is it wrong or is it just different?"

Historically associated with cheap-and-cheerful cars, Hyundai has sought to use electrification to reposition its brand with ambitiously designed models, notably the three Ioniqs released since 2021 and the boxy Santa Fe SUV.

Unlike most other car manufacturers, Hyundai is not seeking to create a consistent look across its range – in fact, it is aiming for the exact opposite.

"We can do a box Santa Fe and we can do a Minecraft-car Ioniq 5, we can do a streamline Ioniq 6, and people say 'Hyundai, that's refreshing,' because they're not all looking the same," said Loasby.

"And I remember talking to some German top managers looking at our lineup and they said, 'No, it's wrong because they don't look like each other,' he continued.

"Is it wrong or is it just different? It's what we're choosing for our brand, because we know customers don't necessarily want to drive a car that looks like my mum's car."

Rather than Russian dolls, Loasby talks about Hyundai cars as chess pieces, each designed with a specific type of user in mind.

It is an approach that has helped Hyundai's cars stand out amid criticisms of sameness among electric vehicles (EVs) on the market.

"Another thing that allows us to do it is the amount of blood, sweat and tears that we go through to make something different," Loasby said.

"There's a conscious effort to challenge ourselves all the time," he explained. "How far can we go? We put ourselves under pressure to do that."

Loasby was speaking to Dezeen at a media preview of the Hyundai Concept Three, the first compact car to emerge under the company's EV sub-brand Ioniq.

Despite being a concept, it is likely that a future production car will be based largely around the same design.

"The big thing about Europe is cool small cars"

The Concept Three has been specifically conceived for European cities, where demand for compact EVs is on the rise, driven partly by regulations intended to curb the presence of large cars in urban environments.

"The big thing about Europe is cool small cars, high-performance small cars, GTIs," said Loasby, adding that his own first car was a tuned Mini Cooper.

"I think we're due a renaissance in that kind of thing – clever-thinking, compact packages," he continued.

"My Mini back then had a range of about 100 miles, that was it. Why do I need much more of a range? And the batteries are so heavy and so costly. Narrow that down, package it differently – I would love to see that."

The Concept Three emerges amid debate in Europe over the size of cars in cities as large SUVs become increasingly popular among manufacturers and consumers, especially in the EV market.

Indeed, three of Hyundai's most recent market releases – the Ioniq 9, the Santa Fe and the Palisade – are large SUVs.

"We're spread betting, you could say – not loading up all in one camp, but with the political directions in different regions being so different, we need that bandwidth portfolio to offer solutions, whether it's ICE [internal combustion engine], hybrid, EV, even hydrogen fuel cell," said Loasby.

But he acknowledges that "we don't need such big cars in the cities".

"The challenge I find really with compact EVs is that we are attached as a consumer base to going on long journeys," he said.

"If that's what you need to do, then this is the wrong car for you or for your lifestyle, but if you are doing the city runaround, it's perfect for you."

"We've never got rid of physical buttons"

Another common feature of EVs is the replacement of the traditional dashboard with large touchscreens – a trend that British architect Norman Foster recently criticised in an interview with Dezeen.

But Hyundai has never completely moved away from the conventional button, and the Concept Three chooses a collection of small widgets arranged around the steering wheel instead of a touchscreen.

"It really comes down to safety," explained Loasby. "If there's a frequently used function you don't want to distract people away from the road to interact with that function, so we've never got rid of physical buttons."

"Buttons are the key, simplest form of interaction that is very safe. You can feel it, and you don't distract from the driving experience."

Driver appetite for the adoption of tech in this way varies dramatically around the world, he noted.

"We have voice interaction in the background for all markets, that we can change any function with AI and interact with it," he said.

"But in Europe, for example, people aren't so much into that. In China, everybody uses it all the time."

Hyundai is far from alone in seeking to leverage design to adjust its brand perception.

Manufacturers across the industry are attempting to become more closely associated with good design – a phenomenon most clearly evidenced by their heavy presence at Milan design week in recent years.

Loasby believes that post-Covid changes in the way people think about mobility and interact with brands are a major factor.

"I think the trigger point was Covid, which changed everything – how brands are perceived, and just a boring car brand's not enough any more, because it's such a part of your lifestyle, how you travel."

"Digital has gotten so much more important, and the car was always such an analogue experience," he added.

"Now the combination of that means you go to the tech shows and you go to the lifestyle shows, rather than just a bunch of cars together, and it attracts a different customer."

The new landscape for marketing cars – in a world where most potential buyers will first see the product on a phone screen – is positive for vehicle design, Loasby argues.

"I think we're in a very strong design age," he said. "When the first impression of anything you see is on a screen this size, how does it stand out? And that's one of our sort of guiding factors."

The photography is courtesy of Hyundai. The top photo is by Van der Vaart Photography.

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