Hyundai Wants More Cohesive Design Without Having to Go Full ‘Copier’

Every Hyundai has a look all its own—and for many buyers, that’s the appeal. Your Hyundai Santa Fe isn’t just a larger version of your neighbor’s Hyundai Tucson, for example. But the brand may be making some changes as it seeks to create a stronger family resemblance across its product range.

In a recent interview with automatic carHyundai Motor Europe CEO Xavier Martinet said the company wanted to establish a clearer visual connection between its models. This doesn’t mean that Hyundai’s boxy SUVs will look like their sleek electric vehicles, but each segment will have subtle design traits that unite the two.

“Perhaps in the past there was no systematic sense of family between our vehicles,” explained Martinet. “It’s something we’re working on, but we would never go ‘copier’ and do the opposite. We’ve seen some brands that might go too far in that direction.”

So don’t expect the lineup to be full of clones. Hyundai still wants each vehicle to have its own personality, following chief designer SangYup Lee’s “chess piece” philosophy, where each model plays a different role and has a unique character.

That means Hyundai SUVs will continue to lean toward a tougher, squarer look—like the latest Santa Fe—while electric vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6, and Hyundai Ioniq 9 will retain their cleaner, more aerodynamic styling.

As Martinet says, the goal is to create “a sense of family that shows they have something that makes sense.”

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Source: Hyundai

Motorcycle Pickup1: Hyundai has some of the best looking cars and SUVs in the business. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the company plans to neuter its lineup with more cookie-cutter offerings—although it doesn’t sound like it.