Despite being vast industrial global companies, car makers can still have the impact of an individual felt.
Toyota is a great example, the premiership of the effervescent Akio Toyoda throughout the 2010s adding a previously unimaginable human side to this most corporate of car firms.
The main figure at the heart of Kia’s rise this century was designer Peter Schreyer, who was positioned as de facto leader of the company and successfully moved the Korean firm from a dowdy budget brand to a more aspirational mainstream one.
Kia now has another charismatic individual moving it forward again: Ho Sung Song, Kia’s president and CEO.
