I thought this article was interesting.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200902/200902250002.html

The Korean Behind the New Mercedes Benz SLR


Yoon Il-hun is the designer of the Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, the final version of the SLR series shown at the Detroit Motor Show last month. Yoon (35) is a Korean designer now working at Mercedes Benz headquarters in Germany.
"I felt huge pressure because it's a famous car," he said. "I had to redesign the old SLR with a contemporary sense. I kept worrying that it must never be ordinary." The Stirling Moss has been hailed as a stylish combination of the original 300 SLR's image and a modern sensibility.

As a senior at the Department of Industrial Design at Hongik University, Yoon mailed his application and portfolio to car manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Ford. Surprisingly, Mercedes-Benz responded to Yoon's challenge, giving him a chance to work at its Advanced Design Studio in Yokohama, Japan in late 2003. "I loved that they gave me a chance regardless of my work experience," he says.

He moved to Germany in 2005 and participated in some key projects. In 2007, he completed the exterior design of the Stirling Moss, the final version of the top SUV series. He said Europe's car industry thinks highly of Korean designers' sensibility and productivity. "Kia's Soul, Forte, and Hyundai's Genesis Coupe in particular can compete with any famous foreign cars," he says.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

__________________
Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

"Koreans copy German design" is highly misleading. He didn't "copy", he designed a concept based on the old SLR for the Germans.

It's like saying "Japanese copy Ferrari" when Ken Okuyama designed the Enzo for Pininfarina.

Veyron: Designed by Hartmut Warkuss (German) built in France under Volkswagen.

...and so on...

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

"Mercedes advanced design studios in Yokohama", That's the biggest problem they have right there. Since when were hondotas worth copying? I think that explains whey everything they've designed since the W140 looks like crap.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I doubt Mercedes moved their design studios to Japan because it was cheaper or inferior.

Would you have the same opinion if they left it in Germany and produced the exact same styled cars?

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

I hadn't intented the title of this thread to be misleading. I just thought it was interesting from that there is so much talk of how the Koreans have been copying German design, and here we have one who actually designs for them.

__________________
Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

Mercedes most famous designers post WWII were foreigners. Paul Bracq and Bruno Sacco. Since Sacco they've designed ****, in my opinion. This is not surprising to me if they figure the Jappanese can teach them about vehicle design. I am not aware of a single Jappanese vehicle that'd I'd consider even approaching any Mercedes in design since WWII right up untill, as I said the W140. So I don't know why they felt the need to relocate their design center to Yokohama, but I don't think it's done them a bit of good. As I've said elsewhere I guess that's the reason the current S-Class looks like a Nissan Maxima on Steroids. But that's just my opinion of course. And no it wouldn't matter ot me where they locate their design studio if they came up with the same stuff they did recently. However that's a moot point as we don't know if a non Japannese designed Mercedes would have been as ugly as the Jappanese designed ones.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Name some cars that weren't designed by Bracq and Sacco that you do like...

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

lets git them chinese to do a cheapo retro copy of the classic benzes--- for everyday wheels, since they will soon be flooding the country with something.

A fair amount of 60's and early 70's Detroit products. A few old Jag's perhaps. Nothing out of Japan. Or Korea for that matter.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I had forgotten it was already done in the late 80's, they called them lexus's

But once again, a Japanese guy working for an Italian firm designed the Enzo....a rather ugly car.

It's a global design marketplace. There are a lot more forces in effect than there were in the past. Once cars are designed they...exist and therefore fewer and fewer original designs can be made based on the mechanics, and space that cars have to work with.

I doubt anyone could look at a 50 different previously unseen concept vehicle designs and know the nationality of their designer.

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

Nope, they wanted close access to the brainstorming which produces this sort of product branding...

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I have often wondered about design as an aesthetic expression rather than as a mere functional one. If I had money... and if I did not live in Phoenix AZ... I think the principal consideration for me would be aesthetics. In which case I would do my best to acquire, and use as my daily driver, one of the great Mercedes designs from the Fintail era up to the W126.

I would also be secure in the knowledge that other considerations such as safety, reliability, quality etc were a given. However I do live in Phoenix, do not have any money, and the unpleasant reality of Mercedes air-conditioning means that it is a far better situation to drive around in my 2000 GMC Sonoma Pickup with ice cold air than muck around with faded glory

Given thus, the fact that I cannot afford that which I regard as aesthetically desirable means I have to forgo notions of beauty and concentrate purely on function. As such there are those vehicles that move me when I see them and simply make me want them, such as the aforementioned Mercedes from their heyday but which will probably remain forever out of my reach. And everything else, which for me (apart from a few rare exceptions I mentioned in a previous post) are about as interesting to me as a pile of stationary.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S