Ed Loh and Jonny Lieberman talk to SangYup Lee, former GM, VW, Bentley, designer and current head of Hyundai global design.
For those of you who've been hibernating under a rock for the last 20 years, SangYup is the head ofGlobal Design and one of the most influential stylists in the automotive industry. You'd never hear him say that though, as he's also one of the most modest.
Born in South Korea, SangYup went to Hongik University and graduated with a degree in fine art. Sculpture was his emphasis, but he wasn't"brave enough" to struggle as an artist. That's when he ventured to America and accidentally came acrossWe've heard it a few times before: Despite being around since 1930 and launching the careers of many of the biggest names in vehicle design, Art Center is still something of a hidden gem.
SangYup was one of these talents, but what's absolutely bonkers, as he tells us on the podcast, is that he also had no automotive points of reference growing up in South Korea during the '70s and '80s as it rose from a poor, mostly agrarian-based economy to the industrial powerhouse it is today. Unlike his colleagues from the West, SangYup didn't grow up tinkering on cars with his parents or checking out auto shows, weekend races, and concours.
This makes his career thus far even harder to believe. After graduating from Art Center, he was hired immediately by General Motors, with one of his first projects being the sixth-generation Corvette Stingray concept. We get into his storied career at GM and how he was sent to Australia to work out of its Holden operation on a special project that would become the fifth-generation Camaro, along with many other crazy stories.
After a couple of years as the chief designer for VW of America, in charge of VW, Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini brands, SangYup joined Luc at Bentley Motors Limited, where they revitalized the brand with modern interpretations of the storied British marque. The Bentley