Hyundai Motor, Kia sweep 17 awards at Red Dot, including two best-of-best honors

Genesis Cheongju, which won a best-of-best prize and an honorable mention at the 2026 Red Dot Award, is shown. [Hyundai Motor/Kia]

Hyundai Motor and Kia announced Friday they had won two best-of-best prizes and 15 honorable mentions at the 2026 Red Dot Award in the Brand & Communication Design category.

The Red Dot Award is one of the world's three most prestigious design competitions, alongside Germany's iF Design Award and the American IDEA. Organized by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany, it selects outstanding work each year across three categories: product design, brand and communication design, and design concept.

Genesis Cheongju took the best-of-best prize in retail design and an honorable mention in spatial communication. The space draws on Cheongju's craft heritage — most notably Jikji, the world's oldest extant metal-printed book, and hanji, traditional Korean paper — and connects it to Genesis's design philosophy of craftsmanship.

The design concept for Genesis Cheongju is "Layers Kindled Through Connection," in which the Korean word "kyeo" carries a double meaning: "layer," as in something built up over time, and "to turn on," as in lighting something. The name expresses Genesis's intention to forge relationships with customers, accumulate shared experiences and open a new cultural chapter.

The space reinterprets traditional Korean architectural concepts as a modern brand environment to embody the Genesis ethos of "understated authenticity." By introducing a community dimension, it goes beyond a simple vehicle showroom, with programming and experiential elements designed to let customers engage directly with the brand and immerse themselves more deeply in it.

Hyundai Motor's UX Studio Seoul, which won a best-of-best prize and honorable mentions at the 2026 Red Dot Award, is shown. [Hyundai Motor/Kia]

Hyundai Motor earned recognition in three categories for UX Studio Seoul, a space the company says opens new possibilities for user-experience research. The studio took the best-of-best prize in digital solutions and honorable mentions in both interior design and exhibition design.

UX Studio Seoul is the automotive industry's first open-format UX research space — a structured, permanent platform where any customer can participate in the UX development process and provide feedback.

The company's CES 2026 exhibit, which redefined robots as technology partners that grow alongside humans, won honorable mentions in the trade fair and temporary exhibition category and the interior architecture concept category. The booth gave visitors a detailed look at the robot research and development process and used participatory experiences to convey Hyundai Motor's vision for human-centered AI robotics.

Hyundai Motor collected a total of nine honorable mentions, including for "Hope on Wheels," "IAA Mobility 2025," "UX Studio Seoul Book," "Hyundai Heritage Stella & Sonata Retrace Magazine" and "Hyundai Onboarding Kit."

Kia earned honorable mentions for two exhibitions: "The Kia EV4 with Musinsa," a collaboration that expanded the brand experience alongside the new model's introduction, and "Heritage of Movement," which traced the brand's past and present while presenting its future vision.

Kia also received honorable mentions for its exhibition at the 2025 Milan Design Week last April, "Opposites United: a Communication Archive" — a comprehensive archive of design projects carried out between Milan and Seoul from 2022 to 2025 — and "Kia Design Magazine," bringing its total to five honorable mentions.

Clockwise from top left: Hyundai Motor's CES 2026, Hyundai Motor's Hope on Wheels, Kia's Heritage of Movement, and Kia's The Kia EV4 with Musinsa — all honorable mention winners at the 2026 Red Dot Award. [Hyundai Motor/Kia]

"This recognition carries great significance as it demonstrates our globally acknowledged competitiveness in customer-centered brand experiences and spatial design," a Hyundai Motor and Kia official said. "We will continue working to build a positive brand image through our strengths in design and marketing."

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and Kia won six awards last month at the 2026 Red Dot Award: Design Concept, including one best-of-best prize for the MobED Urban Hopper & Golf and five honorable mentions.

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