German Car Zone

by Noah Joseph on Jan 9th 2009 at 11:41AM

Hyundai's designs have come a long way over the past few years, and much of the credit is due to the company's chief designer, Joel Piaskowski (above, front). But while the Korean automaker was reportedly shocked when its accomplished stylist resigned last month, the automotive community wondered what was in store next for the young talent. Car Design News now appears to have answered that question, indicating that Piaskowski is headed to California to lead Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design.

Whole article: Backwards World: Mercedes reportedly swiping Hyundai design (chief) - Autoblog

Joel Piaskowski joined Hyundai and Kia North America as Chief Designer six years ago, having been responsible for several Hyundai concept models - including the HCD8, HCD9 Talus and HCD10 Hellion. His other accolades include the interior and exterior design of the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan and Coupe, the Santa Fe SUV and the Veracruz and Elantra exteriors. His sudden resignation is said to have come as a shock to the company.

A graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Piaskowski began his career 20 years ago at General Motors working on production exterior and interior design for the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Opel/ Vauxhall/ Holden and Buick brands.

While at GM, Piaskowski also spent one year working at the Opel Design Center in Rüsselsheim, Germany; six months at the Isuzu Design Center in Fujisawa, Japan (which included a one-month sub-assignment in Torino, Italy); and a spell at Suzuki's Design Center in Hamamatsu, Japan.

Source: Exclusive: Joel Piaskowski to head Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design

Good news.. i think hyundai have started to make really nice looking cars lately

They dont look dirt cheap anymore..

Same with skoda... so imo design wise they are up there with Nissan and Toyota.. if not better..
Probably quality wise aswell..

I think this dude will do well at MB

Well he slightly ripped off the S-class with the Genesis sedan so I'm sure he won't need a crash course on MB design after he's switched office.

^Lol

lol

What goes around comes around. He stole MB designs, now they steal him.

BTW, does anyone know where he worked before Huyndai?

Oh god, how awful. Going to be harder than ever to keep a Benz looking like a Benz now.

M

I doubt it. Design departments and their culture really influence what designers come up with. It's not like every designer at MB was nurtured from the start of their careers by MB. Bangle designed a lot of utter crap before heading to BMW. Peter Arcadipane, the designer of the previous generation CL and the basic theme of the previous S, both truly beautiful cars, designed some pretty horrible looking Holdens (Australian arm of GM) before he moved to Benz. In a similar context, designers from MB who were responsible for some absolutely gorgeous cars have moved on to other makes and have since produced some truly UNremarkable work. For example Michael Fink, designer of the CLS, left MB to head Volvo design. At best the new Volvos are completely boring.

There was an article in a recent Wheels magazine in which the head of Audi design, Stefan Sielaff,who was poached for a few years by MB to head MB's interior design department, was interviewed. He himself admitted that MB's design department has a very strong design culture and the design of new vehicles was very much a group effort and a very controlled process. MB is very much aware of their brand identity and strong design culture.

I really hope you're right because I keep seeing some regurgitated Mercedes, wannabe Hyundai, turned into a Mercedes. I really hope not.


M