Tucson Continues Hyundai’s Push for Design

• SangYup Lee, head of Hyundai's Global Design Center, told journalists at a roundtable this week that future Hyundais can be expected to be just as distinctive-looking as the 2022 Tucson SUV is.
• The company will prioritize visual differentiation among the products in its lineup, Lee said, saying there'll be a "huge spectrum" of appearances.
• The tactic seems to be working, with Hyundai sales up 20 percent in the past decade.

Even before the debut of the Tucson, the differentiation among Hyundai’s products was becoming clear. When looking at the grille—and front end—of the Venue and Kona, the two vehicles share nearly nothing but a badge, and the same goes for the Santa Fe and Palisade. The 2022 Tucson, which Hyundai revealed earlier this week, sports a radically different design than its predecessors and other Hyundai SUVs—but don’t expect any other Hyundai vehicles to adopt that same look.

That was the message that SangYup Lee, head of the Global Design Center at Hyundai, had for journalists at a roundtable which took place shortly after the Tucson was revealed. There wasn't much variation in the designs across the Hyundai lineup just a few years ago, Lee said, but the automaker is moving toward having showrooms that represent a much broader range of designs.

"We're going to have a huge spectrum of Hyundai designs," Lee said. "So when [a customer goes] to a Hyundai dealer, then the customer is able to see the whole spectrum of different designs, so they will be able to choose what suits their lifestyle."

The design team behind the Tucson wanted it to challenge what a vehicle in this class could be, particularly as it's an overcrowded segment, in the words of Lee. Nonetheless, the designers weren’t completely confident that this was the right way to take the Tucson, which Lee regards as having an "avant-garde" look.

"We always questioned ourselves: Are we actually creating a product [with mainstream appeal]?" Lee said. In the beginning of a six- to seven-year life cycle of a vehicle, a car with mainstream appeal can be successful, Lee added, but he doesn't think that would be the case toward the end of that generation, particularly in the SUV segment.