Hyundai adds design weight to GENESIS with yet another VW Group designer

SangYup Lee (pictured) joins Hyundai Genesis from Bentley

Hyundai has recruited yet another Volkswagen designer to strengthen their Genesis design team, with SangYup Lee joining from Bentley.

We’re beginning to wonder if Hyundai’s quest for world domination also has a sub text, with the secondary mission to undermine Volkswagen by stealing their best talents?

Peter Schreyer is the Chief Designer at Hyundai Kia – and one of just three presidents of the company – and is best known for the Audi TT whilst at VW Group, and is the man credited with driving Hyundai Kia design in to the credible mainstream.

Working under Schreyer is Luc Donckerwolke, brought in to drive design for Genesis in 2015 from his former job as Bentley Director of Design.

And now you can add another VW Group design guru to the list of VW designers poached by Hyundai’s head-hunters – SangYup Lee.

SangYup Lee who, you won’t be surprised to learn, is ‘coming home’ to South Korea, is the most successful Korean designer in the global motor industry, and has joined Hyundai to help the new Genesis brand carve out its own identity. And where has SangYup Lee come from? Bentley, of course.

Lee was the Head of Exterior and Advanced Design at Bentley until Hyundai’s head-hunters nobbled him, prior to which he spent time with Pininfarina, Porsche and GM before becoming Chief Designer in charge of Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini design for VW in the US.

SangYup Lee said of his new appointment as Hyundai VP:

The innovative design and surprising growth of Hyundai Motor has always made me proud as a Korean while I worked overseas. Now, I want to contribute in creating world-leading automobile designs for both Hyundai Motor and the GENESIS brand.

But it’s not only designers Hyundai have poached from VW’s stable, they also grabbed former Lamborghini Director of Brand and Design, Manfred Fitzgerald, to drive the Genesis Brand’s credibility.

With any luck, Genesis – under the direction of Schreyer, Donckerwolke and SangYup Lee – will come up with Genesis models which echo what SangYup Lee did for Bentley with the EXP 10 Speed 6 Concept.

Now wouldn’t that be interesting?