Hyundai is so eager to slash product design cycles and introduce new models that its design vice president wants to see drawings become a production reality in just 18 months.



Speaking to Automotive News, senior vice president of design at Hyundai and Genesis, Luc Donckerwolke, said the South Korean automaker intends on responding to trends and demand for new models by dramatically cutting life cycles.

“As life cycles get shorter, they will get drastically shorter. I have no doubt design can be shortened by half,” Donckerwolke said.

As it stands, Hyundai generally takes about three years to start production of a model year after the first drawings are completed. To help reduce that time by as much as half, Hyundai will open a huge design studio at its Namyang R&D Center near Seoul.

In just the next 18 months, Donckerwolke believes company designers can reduce design cycles by as much as 30 per cent.

Constructed at a cost of $67 million, the new 330,000 square feet facility will house 400 workers and is over double the size of the old design studio.

Hyundai’s most recent styling language premiered on the Kona crossover and Donckerwolke revealed that the G70 sports sedan from Genesis will preview the luxury brand’s latest design form.

PHOTO GALLERY