On Thursday, Hyundai announced that it hired Christopher Chapman from the BMW DesignworksUSA studio in Newbury Park, Calif., to be chief designer at the Hyundai Design Center in nearby Irvine.
Less than a year ago, the former General Motors designer Phil Zak stood at the Hyundai stand at the Detroit auto show and introduced the Veloster three-door hatchback and Curb crossover concept. But Mr. Zak returned to G.M. in March, vacating the position to which Mr. Chapman was appointed this week.
Mr. Chapman is best known for directing the design of the BMW X5. He also guided exterior design of the X-Coupe concept of 2001, which was the first enunciation of the flame, or expressionist, surface philosophy of Christopher Bangle, the design chief of BMW at the time. Mr. Chapman is also credited with the first-generation BMW 1 Series hatchback, known internally as the E87, which wasn’t sold in the United States.
He was appointed the director of automotive design at DesignworksUSA in 2002. He has been in charge of recent models like the Z4 sports car and the redesigned X3 crossover.
Mr. Chapman has been head of the transportation department at DesignworksUSA, which also serves clients in areas outside the car industry, since 2008. The department designs aircraft interiors, yachts and metro trains, among other projects. In July, the consultancy was retained by Bay Area Rapid Transit to develop trains to replace the agency’s aging fleet. Mr. Chapman also spent two years of his career at the BMW studios in Munich.
The bearded, affable Mr. Chapman is popular in the Los Angeles auto design community. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and joined Isuzu’s technical center in California in 1989. His Isuzu XU-1 was named Best Concept at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show, according to a release from Hyundai. An S.U.V. with gullwing doors, it informed the shape of the eventual VehiCross and suggested Mr. Chapman’s interest in making S.U.V.’s sportier and less trucklike.
Hyundai and Kia, its sister brand, have impressed design observers with their rapid evolution of clear and dynamic styles to represent their brands. Kia, however, might be more front-of-mind than its corporate sibling, aided by Peter Schreyer, the former Audi design chief who took charge at the Korean automaker in 2006. Mr. Schreyer was named Automobile magazine’s 2011 Man of the Year.
Even so, Hyundai’s success in rapidly raising the level of its design is no less striking. The creases and character lines of the company form language suggest extreme interpretations of some of BMW’s expressive forms — a look credited not as much to Mr. Zak as to to Joel Piaskowski. Mercedes-Benz hired Mr. Piaskowski away from Hyundai to become head of advanced design at the German brand’s North American design center in January 2009. He later moved to Ford.
“We are thrilled to have Christopher Chapman as chief designer for Hyundai and look forward to continuing the strong momentum of our vehicle designs,” said SukGeun Oh, the head of design for the Hyundai brand, in a media release.
John Krafcik, the president and chief executive of Hyundai Motor America, called Mr. Chapman “an outstanding addition to the design team.”
Source: nytimes.com
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