Kia Motors appoints Peter Schreyer as President

Kia Motors has appointed the man who changed their design – former VW man Perter Schreyer – as President.

When Peter Schreyer left VW in 2006 after a sparkling career that saw him establish the Audi design philosophy – still a hallmark of Audi design – to head up design at stodgy Kia, many in the industry thought it an odd move.

But Peter Schreyer seemed keen to prove his worth after VW had passed him over to head up their new design studio, and Kia offered the prospect of turning a budget brand in to a mainstream force with cutting edge designs and, it would seem, a pretty free hand to do what it would take.

In the intervening six years Schreyer has overseen the complete redesign of Kia’s range of production cars from the Cee’d to the Sportage and Optima to Carens with his ‘Tiger-Nose’ family look now proliferating across the range. and on a sometimes stunning range of Kia Concepts like the very promising Kia GT.

Now, in honour of all that Schreyer has achieved for Kia, he has been made President of Kia Motors – the first non-Korean to hold the post – from where he will continue to oversee Kia’s design-focused strategy.

It’s a genuine show of thanks from Kia for all the success Schreyer’s design have brought the Korean car makers, and probably a very good way of keeping him on board for the foreseeable future.

Which must be the plan.