Peter Schreyer, the supreme boss of design for Kia and Hyundai, and the man responsible for rescuing Kia from the gutter and turning it into a serious global player, has been awarded for outstanding achievement in the automotive industry the 2013 Golden Steering Wheel. No other man in the past decade has had such a positive effect on the industry as Peter.
Schreyer is only the second designer in the 31-year history of the Golden Steering Wheel to receive the award. Giorgetto Giugiaro received it in 1995. The former Audi designer joined the Koreans in 2006 and with every new car penned he improved Kia’s position in the rankings.
He started rejuvenating the brand with the Soul, Forte and Forte Koup, and went on creating hugely successful cars like the Ceed and ProCeed, Sportage, Optima and the new generation Rio, and more recently the K9. In 2013, Peter Schreyer was appointed President of all Hyundai-Kia Design Centres at the beginning of 2013.
Schreyer said: “I am exceedingly proud to receive this important award. It is a great honour for me personally, and at the same time it is recognition for our design teams all around the world who for years have been delivering such excellent work.”
Golden Steering Wheel is quite a prestigious award in the auto industry. The most recent recipients of the award include Ferdinand Piëch, Chairman of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board (2012), Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company (2011) and Norbert Reithofer, CEO of BMW (2010).
