Royal College of Art honours Kia design chief Peter Schreyer

• Schreyer becomes one of only three automotive designers honoured by RCA
• Schreyer´s "controlled and intellectual approach to car styling has redefined the car for the 21st Century"

The UK´s prestigious Royal College of Art has awarded Kia Motors Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his contribution to automotive
design. The annual awards ceremony was held in the famous Royal Albert Hall, London, on Friday 29 June.

The RCA is the UK´s pre-eminent school of art and design and awards its honorary doctorates sparingly. Peter Schreyer is only the third automotive designer to be honoured and joins the Italian styling studio creators and legendary car designers, Sergio Pininfarina and Giorgetto Giugiaro on a list of honorands which reads like a ´who´s who´ of art and design.

Schreyer, who was appointed to his newly created role at Kia in September 2006, is the man behind the stunning ex_cee´d cabrio concept car shown by Kia at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year. He is charged with driving the future design direction of Kia, one of the world´s fastest growing automobile manufacturers.

Presenting Peter Schreyer with his doctorate, the RCA´s Professor Dale Harrow commented "The Honorary Doctorate is the highest award that the RCA can bestow and is given to
individuals that have contributed significantly to their subject.

"In Peter Schreyer´s case it is a recognition of the outstanding contribution that Peter has made and the enormous amount of influence he has on modern car design and on students at the RCA. Peter´s controlled and intellectual approach to car styling has redefined the car for the 21st Century."
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Peter Schreyer, 53, who was born in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, studied Industrial Design at the Fachhochschule in Munich. Winning a scholarship from Audi, he studied transportation design at the Royal College of Art in 1979/80. Returning to his native Germany, he joined Audi in 1980 and continued to work at Audi and Volkswagen for the next 25 years,
producing designs for vehicles such as the Audi TT and the new VW Beetle. He left VW group to join Kia as Chief Design Officer in mid-2006.

"I am very proud and delighted to be honoured by the Royal College," commented Schreyer. "It has a world-renowned tradition for encouraging the finest work and among its honorary doctors are some of the greatest names in the art and design world. To be included amongst them is possibly the greatest accolade I could wish for.

"This only serves to encourage me to produce the very best work of my career for Kia. Kia has given me the opportunity to shape its whole brand design and character, and seldom does a designer have such a clean sheet to work with. We have already started this journey with ex_cee´d to show just where we might go and at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September
I think we will surprise the entire automotive world with what we are planning for Kia´s
future," he enthused.

Joining Peter Schreyer at the Royal Albert Hall for this year´s award ceremony were Britartist Tracey Emin and musician Brian Eno, who were also presented with honorary doctorates by the College.

Since the annual awards were established in 1967, the RCA honours have acknowledged the talents and creativity of a broad spectrum of people working in a wide variety of areas. The 136 previous recipients include: Giorgio Armani (fashion designer), Sir David Attenborough (TV producer and environmental campaigner), Colin Chapman (automotive engineer, founder of Lotus cars), Umberto Eco (philosopher and novelist), Lord Norman Foster (architect),
David Hockney (painter and artist), David Lynch (film director), Issey Miyake (fashion
designer), Nick Park (animator), Miuccia Prada (fashion designer), Zandra Rhodes (fashion designer), Lord Richard Rogers (architect), Martin Scorsese (film director), and Saul Steinberg (cartoonist The New Yorker).

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Editors´ Notes

Kia Motors Europe
Kia Motors Europe is the European sales, marketing, and service arm of Kia Motors Corporation. With its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, it covers 29 markets in Europe.

About Kia Motors Corporation
Kia Motors Corporation (www.kiamotors.com) was founded in 1944 and is Korea´s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world´s premier automotive brands.

Kia´s 13 manufacturing and assembly operations in nine countries produce more than 1.3 million vehicles a year that are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 165 countries. Kia today has 33,000 employees and annual revenues of US$19 billion.

Kia is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of the
Davis Cup. From 2007 to 2014, Kia will be an official automotive partner of FIFA - governing body of soccer´s FIFA World Cup. Kia boosted its football links this year with three new sponsorships of major teams that will see the Kia logo appearing in the UEFA Champions League - FC Girondins de Bordeaux, FC Brussels and Atletico de Madrid.

Kia Motors Corporation´s brand slogan - ´The Power to Surprise´ - represents the company´s global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation.

Press Contact

Mr Panu Vainamo
Tel 0049 69 850 928 352 Email pvainamo@kia-europe.com

Kia Motors Europe GmbH
Theodor-Heuss-Allee 11, 60486 Frankfurt, Germany.
Tel 0049 69 850 928 352 Fax 0049 69 850 928 399