Kia hired Audi's designer in 2006 and grew from 1.1M to 3.05M cars in a decade

By the mid-2000s Kia made dependable cars that almost nobody desired, and badge snobs in Western markets looked down on Korean brands. Its answer was a famously contrarian hire: it took Peter Schreyer, a designer from Audi, made him chief design officer in 2006, and gave him years to build an identity.

Schreyer created a design DNA based on what he called the simplicity of the straight line, and applied it consistently across the whole range. The 2010 Optima, the first model designed entirely under him, became the catalyst that changed how people saw the brand; the Soul, with its odd, cool looks, changed it again. Kia also backed the design with real substance — a new Cee'd and a seven-year warranty in Europe.

The result was a leap, not a bump. Global sales went from around 1.1m cars in 2005 to 3.05m in 2015, with the brand's value rising alongside its volume. Design had turned a value label into a brand people chose rather than settled for.

Global sales rose from ~1.1M (2005) to 3.05M (2015) as a consistent design identity changed perception.

An outsider designer brought credibility and a teachable, repeatable design language.

The design identity was applied to every model, creating coherence instead of one-off hits.

Kia funded the strategy with real product substance like the seven-year warranty.

Design shifted the brand's perception, letting it raise prices and improve residuals.

A commodity car brand can leap by hiring the person who owns the taste it lacks and giving them time to build a signature.

Kia built on the design-led momentum into the mid-2010s and beyond, becoming a global top-ten maker and repeatedly setting sales records.