What I'd Do Differently: Peter Schreyer

From the April 2017 issue

C/D: You grew up in Bavaria and your father owned a restaurant. Are you a good cook?

PS: I used to do the strudel and some other stuff. Even after I was already working as a junior designer for Audi, I would go back on weekends and bake the cakes.

C/D: Like many auto designers, you love airplanes. Why do the two things go together so often?

PS: I think planes are the most beautiful machines; I have always loved them. There was a small air club near our house when I was a kid and they had an old English plane, a Percival Proctor. It was grounded for some reason, and they threw the wings away, and the fuselage with all its instruments ended up in our barn. I was six or seven and I had my own plane! I still have the propeller at home.

Left: Peter Schreyer at the 2016 Paris Auto Show. Right: The original 1998 Audi TT coupe.

C/D: How did they persuade you to come to Korea?

PS: I don’t say persuade—they convinced me. We had meetings, and they told me they wanted to make a big step in design. I loved the idea of a white canvas, to build a brand almost from scratch. There were cars there already, of course, good cars, but in design terms they were very neutral. With a role like this, it’s not only about money; no designer wants to work for an anonymous organization. The chemistry was right.

C/D: Was it a shock after 25-plus years at Audi and Volkswagen?

PS: Of course, the Korean language and culture are very different, even the way people think and express things. When you are talking to a boss or a higher-up person, the word “no” doesn’t exist, a problem doesn’t exist. It’s difficult for them to admit that anything’s wrong; if they do, it will usually be at the end of the day. Everything is circumscribed. It’s never, “The vice chairman doesn’t like the wheels;” it’s, “There is some opinion about the wheels.”

C/D: You’re now in charge of both Hyundai and Kia design, how do you distinguish them?

PS: The battle is not between Kia and Hyundai, it’s between us and everyone else: Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Ford. We did a design manifesto where we said Hyundai is like a river stone and Kia is more like a man-made object, a billiard ball.