Better design sells more Kias
LOS ANGELES – At an event like the Los Angeles Auto Show, it’s obvious that automakers spend millions (possibly billions) of dollars competing to get a new car buyer’s attention. From the elaborate auto show stands to the full-on multimedia presentations to the post-show new vehicle media drive events, everyone is spending big bucks to differentiate themselves in a market where the bandwidth between reliability, features and pricing is paper-thin.
In a vast field of new vehicles that, objectively, all perform at a very similar level, the subjective nature of how a car looks can make or break a new car in the showroom. This is why, outside of marketing, automakers are also investing heavily in new car design. And one of the automakers that have wholeheartedly bought into this “car design as added value” theory is South Korea’s Kia.
Kia’s global head pen, chief design officer Peter Schreyer, deserves much of the credit for the brand’s design renaissance. However, the automaker’s most recent and critically acclaimed (and bestselling) vehicles have come from Kia’s Design Center America, located just south of Los Angeles in Irvine, Calif., and headed by American Tom Kearns.
“The studio does mostly production work, probably 85 per cent is actually making proposals for production programs. But we also do a show car maybe once a year. So there’s some advance work being done as well,” Kearns explained during an interview shortly after the debut of the new 2014 Forte Sedan and refreshed 2014 Sorento crossover at the show.
Before joining Kia in 2004, Kearns was a General Motors man, his most notable work being the “art and science”- themed 2002 Cadillac CTS sedan. In the eight years he’s been running the Kia’s West Coast design studio, Kearns has overseen the debut of some of the brand’s most groundbreaking designs; vehicles that have driven the Korean automaker from an also-ran to a design leader, such as the original 2006 Soul concept, 2007 KUE crossover concept (that previewed the current Sportage) and the 2008 Kia Koup concept, that led to the current Forte Koup two-door.
He explained that his team’s goal is to create a look that offers a lot of “design content” or “design value,” which supports Kia’s fundamental brand values.
As chief designer, Kearns puts it this way: “If we can create a design that looks more expensive — or you feel you’re getting more for your money — then I think we’ve done our job. You can see that in the Optima. You can get every option on that car, and it’s hard to break $35,000. But the design — for the average person, anyway — looks like a BMW or a Euro-something that maybe should cost $55,000.”
Kearns’ “design value” ethos shows up on the sales charts as well. The majority of Kia’s biggest sellers in North America originated from his studio.
“The original Forte sedan and five-door hatchback, the current-generation Sorento and the new Sorento facelift, the Sportage, the new Rio sedan and fivedoor all came from our studio,” Kearns says. This all means that good design is helping sell more Kias.
For example, owning the industry-leading sales growth record for 47 consecutive months, Kia Canada just had its best November ever with a total of 5,719 new vehicles sold — a 17.8 per cent gain over the same period a year ago. The automaker’s year-to-date total of 73,840 vehicles reflects a 19.7 per cent gain, and puts Kia on track for another record year in Canada.
After the reveal of the new 2014 Forte Sedan, it’s hard to see Kia straying too far from this current path of success. Arguably, the front-wheel-drive, fivepassenger four-door is suddenly the most sophisticated-looking car in its class. And Kearns says that’s no accident.
“The overall shape of the car and proportions, can give an impression of value. And with the new Forte, I think we’ve done a good job with that,” Kearns explains proudly.
The Kia designer also explains that much of the new Forte’s design value can be found in the details.
“The LED daytime running lamps, the beltline, the chrome door handles — some of those are things that normally you might not see on a comparable Honda, Nissan or Toyota,” Kearns says.
While the 2014 North American Forte shares its platform with the foreign-market Kia Cerato, the two cars are separate designs. Kearns’ studio handled the North American car’s exterior and interior design, then followed the car as it made its way from his designer’s sketches to the factory floor.