Hyundai designer ‘pushed the boundaries' for tailored styling

TOKYO — Hyundai Motor Group's influential designer Luc Donckerwolke, who was recruited from the Volkswagen group to overhaul styling at Hyundai, Kia and Genesis over the past five years, has left the company.

Donckerwolke's resignation was effective April 29, according to an internal note obtained by Automotive News. The note said the Belgian Donckerwolke was leaving Hyundai for personal reasons. His next career moves remained unclear last week.

Donckerwolke, 54, joined South Korea's biggest automaker from Volkswagen in 2015 to lead Hyundai and Genesis brand design. He expanded that portfolio in 2018 to become chief design officer of Hyundai Motor Group, taking over the Kia marque as well.

The internal company note included a comment attributed to Donckerwolke saying, "It's been an honor and privilege to contribute to the shaping of the future of Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. Their audacious and progressive attitude has allowed me to push the boundaries and challenge the status quo."

Hyundai will not name a successor as chief design officer for the entire group. Instead, SangYup Lee will continue in his role as head of design for the Hyundai and Genesis brands, while Karim Habib will remain at the helm of Kia after being recruited from Infiniti last year.

Donckerwolke moved to Hyundai in 2015 from VW, where he oversaw design for the Bentley, Lamborghini and Seat brands, in addition to designing for Audi.

He quickly put his mark on a new generation of designs at Hyundai and Genesis. He moved the Hyundai brand away from a family look that had been relied on in previous generations to make models in different segments look like scaled-up or scaled-down versions of each other.

Donckerwolke instead pushed for individually tailored styling that better matched the personality and aesthetic of each nameplate.

The new design language he inspired there, referred to internally as "Sensuous Sportiness," was created with Lee and is now being rolled out in such vehicles as the redesigned Sonata sedan and the Palisade crossover.

At Genesis, Donckerwolke played a pivotal role in giving the young premium brand an independent identity, and helped it achieve a clean break from holdover Hyundai styling.

Genesis' latest makeover aims for "athletic elegance" with an imposing crest grille, an arching parabolic character line that accentuates the sides, and distinctive signature quad lamps up front. The styling debuts in the new GV80 crossover and G80 sedan.

In his time at Hyundai, Donckerwolke also presided over the opening of an expansive, modern design studio for the Hyundai and Genesis brands at the group's Namyang technical center south of Seoul.

He helped usher in a new era of digital design work that taps into virtual reality tools.