Hyundai, and sister brand Kia, has a history of poaching bigtime industry names. Examples include Dr. Albert Biermann, who previously served for decades as BMW M boss, and Peter Schreyer, who penned the first generation Audi TT. More recently, Hyundai hired Luc Donckerwolke to serve as head of design for its luxury Genesis brand. His past gigs included time as design boss at both Bentley and Lamborghini. One of his most famous projects was the Lamborghini Murcielago, which launched in 2002.

Today, however, Reuters reports that Donckerwolke is set to replace Peter Schreyer as design boss of Hyundai Motor Group. Schreyer has been assigned the newly created role of head of design management for the South Korean automaker.

Donckerwolke worked with Schreyer when he first joined the automaker back in 2016 so, in a way, this was all planned. It was Schreyer who single-handedly turned the automaker, specifically Kia, into a design powerhouse. Choosing his successor would not be an easy task, needless to say, but it made sense to bring in a major industry name who also spent years working for Volkswagen Group. Donckerwolke fits the bill perfectly.

One of his most significant contributions during his time as Genesis design chief was the absolutely stunning Essentia concept, which debuted last April at the New York Auto Show.

Of course, that concept was for Genesis so its overall design language may or may not be transferred to Hyundai and/or Kia. Chances are it won't, but that's just fine. Given Donckerwolke's past experiences, we can't wait to see what he does with future Hyundais and Kias. He has some big shoes to fill, but without question, he's the right guy for the job.

Our first suggestion: Do everything you can to get management to greenlight Essentia production.