Hyundai has released the fourth episode of the second season of its bi-weekly podcast, “Are We There Yet?”. In ‘Seven: the Suev you can really live in’, Simon Loasby, Vice President and Head of Hyundai Styling, joins host Suzi Perry to talk about his career in automotive design and his contribution to the development of Hyundai’s current design philosophy, as well as the Seven concept and how it was designed.
During the talk, Loasby reflects on his career, explaining what sparked his interest in car design and why he moved from a European car manufacturer, the Volkswagen Group, to a Korean brand, working in China and Korea. During his time at Hyundai, Loasby played an important role in bringing the concept of ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ to the Ioniq brand’s range of electric vehicles. For Loasby, each Ioniq model is like a chess set: “They are made to fit together even though they look and behave differently.”
“Design is about not worrying about being wrong. Ninety-nine point nine per cent of what a designer does ends up in the bin. Occasionally this doesn’t happen and it exceeds expectations. We have to be comfortable with making mistakes and we have to encourage our teams not to be afraid of making mistakes. Try, because if you don’t try and go all the way, you will never know what is at the end of the path you are creating,” Loasby said.
Speaking about the Seven concept, Loasby explained that the design was based on three main themes: wellness and hygiene, SUEV line and the development of Level 4 autonomous driving. Loasby said that the concept car was completely designed remotely using virtual reality technology. The application of VR not only improved workflows and efficiency among the international teams, but also demonstrated Hyundai’s commitment to sustainability, producing far less waste and carbon emissions. Click here for the complete podcast content.
