A study on the R&D professionals post-evaluation of Tucson NX4 design process based on grounded theory method
Seung Yeon Lee, Ken Nah · Korea Institute of Design Research Society · 2022
This research employing grounded theory as a research methodology is based on the in-depth interviews of designers and engineers who played a pivotal role in developing the Tucson 4th Generation Model NX4, Hyundai Motor's flagship C-Segment SUV model, which was released in 2020. Hyundai Motor's Tucson NX4 recorded 18,842 units (2020.9) on the first day of pre-contracting in Korea, and is currently receiving positive reviews in overseas markets for its design and stable performance. In particular, in the early stages of Hyundai's design innovation process, DDD (Digital Driven Design) process, the global simultaneous launch of NX4 was successful, which requires different dimensions and complex design and legal conditions for each local markets, including domestic demand, North America, Europe, and China. The development process behind the development of the internally and externally acclaimed C-Segment SUV Tucson NX4 is post-evaluated qualitatively, objectively and structurally based on grounded theory for practical R&D vehicle developers, rather than for conventional quantitative assessments. The result laid four decisive factors that could have succeeded the project, and based on the results of this study, it will serve as supplementing and improving the DDD process in the future.