Head-turning design is nothing new for Hyundai, which has transformed into something of a styling powerhouse in recent years.
It’s a major shift from the brand’s earlier days that saw a few flashes of brilliance here and there, but nothing that was especially exceptional. That makes Hyundai’s rapid ascent from the doldrums of design to a downright dynasty a remarkable one, with its newest concept and production vehicles putting exclamation points on the brand’s sudden styling legacy.
Passion for Design
Flanked by the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 9 and the brand’s Initium hydrogen fuel cell concept, Simon Loasby looks like a proud parent as he speaks at the Los Angeles auto show about the latest creations crafted by the dozens of designers he works with at studios around the world. He carries on thoughtfully, naturally — not just because he knows this stuff like the back of his hand but because of his passion, which is palpable with each passing word.
The affable Englishman has only been in Korea a short time — he’s led Hyundai’s design centre there since 2019 — but his embrace of the country’s culture is as apparent as it is written all over the Ioniq 9. In fact, it’s repeated no less than 302 times on the SUV’s exterior alone, although it might not be obvious at first glance.
“The pixels (are) one of the most important topics,” he says, his sketchbook at the ready as he teases the inspiration behind the parametric pattern Hyundai first introduced in the early days of the pandemic with the Ioniq 5 electric vehicle (EV).
The letter M in the Korean alphabet, otherwise known as Hangul, happens to bear a striking resemblance to the modern-day pixel. That’s despite origins that date back to the 1400s.
“So we have a 600-year-old design language on our most modern product,” Loasby says. “But if you ask my kids, they’ll say it’s (from) Minecraft.”
According to the Hyundai Design Center head, the duality of this important — and perhaps even iconic — design element as both culturally agnostic and yet historically Korean is among the reasons it’s proliferating across the brand’s lineup. What started as an EV-exclusive cue has made its way to the recently redesigned Hyundai Santa Fe, as well as Initium concept, albeit with unique twists of its own.
Instead of pixels purely for the sake of them, here they’ve taken on a symbolic hint to the hydrogen fuel source, as well as the brand that has aspirations to turn this concept into reality. The quartet of clustered pixels that span the space between the head- and tail lights? Those are supposed to represent the four-dit sequence that makes the letter H in Morse code.
The same style of four clustered pixels is found elsewhere on the vehicle, which on its own symbolizes a ‘+’ symbol. (Two such symbols without the pixels are subtly debossed on the back corners of the concept’s roof rack.) It’s all part of the cleverness Loasby and his colleagues apply to the vehicles they design, and to great effect.
From Hydrogen to H2O
But back to the Ioniq 9, which is set to hit the market much sooner than anything derived from the Initium concept. As Loasby describes it, to give a designer a blank piece of paper is to leave them without direction; and yet to box them in too closely is to rob them of their creativity. That’s why the styling process for Hyundai’s team that totals more than 500 people starts rather broadly.
In the case of this all-new — and all-electric — SUV, the creative process kicked off by looking at what else was out there. And with something as boxy as the Santa Fe (as well as the larger Palisade) already in the lineup, Hyundai’s designers decided to go in a different direction entirely. And they did so by looking beyond terra firma and out over open waters. Well, sort of.
What the team came up with was a boat tail — a look that tapers towards the rear of the vehicle while accentuating its overall length.
“The advantage of having this boat tail and this truncated rear volume means the diagonal length between the cowl and the rear spoiler is so big,” Loasby says. “It gives us a sense of space in the interior, but the exterior doesn’t feel daunting. It’s kind of welcoming.”
Helping make the Ioniq 9 look so approachable is more Korean inspiration. The subtle diagonal crease in the rear door was designed to draw on hanbok — traditional Korean clothing that typically includes a collar-like element that cuts across the neck or chest area. It’s yet one more way Loasby and the rest of the design team hid some of Hyundai’s distinct heritage in plain sight.
According to Loasby, it’s just one of the reasons the profile is his favourite view of the Ioniq 9, with the front and rear volumes coming together in unique ways. Some of those are afforded by the fact it’s an EV, while others are the result of the sort of arched silhouette it has. It’s certainly unique, with the highest point of the roof located somewhere between the first- and second-row seats.
“The reason I say the side view is my favourite is that the proportion of the hood is actually really short for an SUV, because we pulled the cowl point forward to be able to get up over the second row and down over the third row,” he says. “But we shifted the volumes rearward.”
The Chess Piece Approach
For Hyundai’s newest EVs in particular, there’s a uniqueness to each of them. That’s in stark contrast with a brand like Tesla, for example, where all but the dumpster-shaped Cybertruck look like slight variations of the same basic form. As Loasby explains it, there’s a philosophy that underpins these products that’s as literal as it is figurative.
“We like to consider our (vehicles) like chess pieces,” he says.
While there’s at least a bit of family resemblance between this sport utility and the sleek Ioniq 6 that goes beyond the pixel theme, it’s entirely by design to make each of them unique, according to Loasby. In the simplest of terms, they’re targeting different customers with different needs, and the styling reflects that.
“It’s really deliberately positioned as another chess piece,” Loasby says. “The pixels are executed in a completely different way here compared to the other cars, but the advantage of this profile and the length gave us so much interior space.”
Of course, there’s an element of risk that comes with the polarizing look of each of them, including the Ioniq 9. For Loasby, he isn’t naive enough to think even half the public will fall in love with the look of his team’s latest creation. But then more important than dodging too much hate is avoiding indifference.
So how does he see his role, as well as that of the larger design team at Hyundai as a whole? It’s about being outside the comfort zone and pushing boundaries as much as possible.
“Our job is about getting into trouble,” Loasby says. “Our job is about stretching the organization as far as it can go to go forwards. But if you go too much then you’re going to be too uncomfortable, but if you don’t do enough you’re in trouble as well, so it’s about finding that sweet spot.”
Final Thoughts
For Loasby, this day in southern California has a particular importance — and not just because he’s beaming with pride after presenting the Ioniq 9 on behalf of the countless designers he worked with on the project. No, it’s the personal connection he has with stepping onstage at the LA auto show to present a rather radical-looking vehicle.
His father, Mike Loasby, was chief engineer for Aston Martin in the 1970s and headed up the radical redesign of the Lagonda — a car that was paraded around at auto shows, including the 1977 Los Angeles Auto Expo. An illustration of the car even found its way onto the cover of the official show program, and the elder Loasby was on hand to present it to the public.
“I’m so proud of the team, but there’s a little point where I get quite emotional now, because my dad would have been 85 yesterday, and he stood here in 1977 presenting the Aston Martin Lagonda — ‘the wedge,’” Loasby says. “He would’ve been so proud of me doing this now.”
