Kia has appointed John Buckingham, a UK veteran automotive designer, as the exterior design chief of its next design group. Buckingham has worked in the automotive industry since 2005 when he joined BMW as an exterior designer. While working at the BMW Designworks studio in Los Angeles, he also led the design of the 8 Series concept.

Then, he moved to UK luxury carmaker Bentley in 2018 and to Faraday Future, the US-based electric vehicle startup, in 2022. Kia said Buckingham will play a leading role in shaping the carmaker's vision of future mobility based on its design philosophy Opposites United.