The 2011 Sonata.
Hyundai has been introducing the 2011 Sonata at this year's various auto shows, including Toronto. The sixth-generation Sonata has lots of curves and chrome and moves noticeably away from the boxy look of its predecessors.
The buzz words the company tags on to its design is "Fluidic Sculpture." Whatever it's called, it has the high belt-line, creased sides and sloping coupe-like roofline of some high-end German and Japanese models.
The car was designed in Hyundai's California studio and is intended to be more "bold" than the Camrys and Accords, Altimas and Fusions that it competes with in the mid-size sedan segment.
Phil Zak moved to Hyundai after an 18-year career at General Motors in Michigan and Germany. He says he and his team have created "a dynamic, expressive upscale-looking vehicle."
Vaughan: What was your California studio aiming to do?
Zak: The mission was to create the most dynamic mid-size vehicle in the segment and I think we did a nice job pulling that off.
Does it look like a Lexus to you?
It looks like a Lexus from the standpoint that it has a premium feel to it - the chrome grille, the detail on the head lamps and tail lamps.
It's a very premium-looking vehicle.
But you have to bring it in for tens of thousands of dollars less.
Yeah, it's a two-for-one scenario.
Half price of what some of your premium brand vehicles sell for.
So how does a designer do that? What are the tricks you've got?
It's how you detail.
I mentioned head lamps, tail lamps, the items that people see. The head lamps are kind of like jewellery cases. We spent money on the chrome grille to give it more of a premium look.
It's also how you surface the metal so it has a nice refined look and feel to it.
So there are subtleties that you see in premium cars.
You can stamp the metal and take more of a risk and be more overt and dynamic to attract customers that have the same passion. Or you can play it safe and do something mundane and not offend anyone.
So what we're looking to do is be more emotional and stand out.
That's a shift of emphasis at Hyundai.
We're looking to make a bold move and have a bold statement to match everything else that has already been done with quality and reliability and value.
We are known for value and now we're getting known for quality. Design is next.
That's the thing we are really focusing on right now. We want to be dynamic and pull at the customers' heart strings to get them into the showroom.
What's your buzz word again?
Fluidic sculpture is the design language that we're using.
It means looking at the vehicle as one sculpture. The front flows into the body side and flows into the rear. So it's a very cohesive design statement.
As I said, design is becoming more of a critical element as quality is up on all manufacturers and so is safety.
You can't differentiate yourself on safety any longer because all of it is mandated and a lot of it is the same. So really design and what the vehicle says about you driving it starts to become a very critical point.
So that's why design is coming into its own right now from an auto manufacturing standpoint.
You were a GM guy for 18 years. What's the difference coming to work at Hyundai?
It's exciting working with the Koreans.
They're very passionate people and very emotional. So it's two totally different cultures, two totally different companies. One being more mature, one being new and still working on processes and figuring things out.
So it's kind of a night-and-day difference. But both are exciting, both are good.
Michael Vaughan is co-host with Jeremy Cato of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 2 p.m. on CTV.
mvaughan@globeandmail.com