SANTA MONICA, California — Sangyup Lee, the exterior design manager of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, is reportedly leaving General Motors for Volkswagen's California design studio. Lee is joining the Audi-Volkswagen advanced design studio in Santa Monica. He will be chief exterior designer there and starts in mid-January.
Lee had previously worked for Porsche but had been with General Motors for about a decade, responsible for such projects as the 50th-anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept and the 2004 Buick Velite concept. He is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design. His Camaro design won an internal competition and he worked with GM's Australian unit, Holden, to put it into final form.
Inside Line says: A source of fresh ideas leaves a GM that badly needs them. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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atenza94546 says:
08:34 PM, 12/29/2009
Yeah! The next Bumble Bee will probably be a Beetle.
Wait it will be a squary Beetle than!
bjrieder says:
10:42 AM, 12/29/2009
VW has certainly had some quality control issues in the past. But, if you observe the statistics from CR or TrueDelta you will find that the improvements have been incredible in the past 3-4 yrs, as reflected in their confidence to currently offer total maintenance included for 3/36. Even in previous years, the faults were largely focused around specific repairable areas such as window lifts and coils. I bought a 2002 337 GTI followed by a 2008 GTI (manuals). VW changed out the coild before I had any issues, as well as the lifts on the '02. On the current '08 I have had NO problems in 23k miles. Having owned multiple Nissans, Toyotas, and Hondas prior to these 2 GTIs I had some trepidation about the reliability factor. I am happy to say that I would not trade any of them for my current GTI! It is the gighest quality, most fun, and almost the most economical, driving experience of my 45 year driving career... and that includes an AH 3000Mk3, 2 MR2s (turbo and natural), 300ZX, and my beloved CRX Si. My feeling is that as w/ most auto purchases, the dealership is key to satisfaction. This seems to be more true of VW than many. If you are in the market, definitely test drive a VW to benchmark your satisfaction requirements.
shelbyturboz says:
09:39 AM, 12/29/2009
most american vw's are made in mexico and and mexico has a history of making bad cars. I own a nissan sentra made in mexico and have had manny problems. they need to quit building cars in mexico,that would help.
harrison310 says:
07:58 PM, 12/28/2009
Good for VW styling, but they definitely need to fix their reliability issues. Style will only go so far, so even though the GTI annually tops car mag's fave rides, I always check out JD Power, Edmunds and MSN Autos to see how actual owners like their cars. VW has been in at the bottom of reliabilit ratings for years now.
Maybe Lee can redo a really cool Super Beetle?;)
deathtollwrx says:
07:39 PM, 12/28/2009
VW already has some of the best bodystyles and interiors in the business.
That being said I owned both a 99 Beetle and a 2007 GLI and they were unreliable piles of garbage. The GLI was in the shop every 2 months for electrical work. The lights on the 1999 Beetle also gave me alot of issues.
I should have learned my lesson in 1999 but the new GLI was so sexy inside. I have since traded it for a 2010 Kia Forte and never looked back.
btrdayz says:
02:35 PM, 12/28/2009
Funny, because I thought the Camaro and the Audi S5 coupes were 2 of the sexiest coupes to hit the market in 2009.
firstclass says:
02:12 PM, 12/28/2009
This is great news for Volkswagen. Lately VW have become much too curvy and smooth, even the GTI looks feminine. Sangyup Lee's angular designs will bring some much welcomed masculinity to Volkswagens lineup. And maybe he'll incorporate VW past designs into future models as well. I would have love Lee draw the next Scirocco on a napkin.