Peter Schreyer

Biography

Peter Schreyer was born in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, in 1953. He began working with Audi as a student in 1978, studied at the Royal College of Art on an Audi scholarship in 1979–1980 and joined Audi's design department in 1980. The Audi TT, shown as a concept at the 1995 Frankfurt show and built from 1998, is credited to him, as are the Volkswagen New Beetle and the fourth-generation Golf of 1997.

In 2006 Kia hired him as chief design officer. The 2007 Kee concept introduced the 'tiger nose' grille that became the face of the brand, carried by the Optima and the Sportage (2010 and 2015), the Soul (2014) and the Stinger (2017). On 28 December 2012 he was named one of Kia's three presidents.

In November 2018 Luc Donckerwolke took over as chief design officer and Schreyer became president and head of design management for Hyundai Motor Group. He retired from his full-time role at the end of 2023. His awards include the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany (2003) and an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art (2007).