Most Americans practically live in their cars.

Which is why we have become personally attached to our cars, decorating them to suit our personalities, sometimes even going so far as to give these inanimate objects names. And what goes on in the backseat, stays in the backseat.

But a lucky few get to stamp their personality on a whole model of automobiles. These are the car designers, whose aesthetic sense and artistic sensibilities help create something that hopefully keeps our road rage in check while stuck in rush-hour traffic. And while flashy muscle cars or futuristic concept cars get a lot of publicity, car designers like Hojoon Kang bring a little welcome style to the proletariat vehicles that most of us drive.

Kang’s most recent work has been on the 2008 redesign of Chevrolet’s perennial mid-size sedan model, the Chevy Malibu. First produced in 1964, the Malibu brand has served as a stalwart but boring automobile that has been a perennial for rental car fleets. But Kang’s striking new design is receiving rave reviews for revitalizing the line.

“I think the Malibu is the best designed car in this segment,” Kang says, with pride. “We emphasized expressive and fresh designs.” Others agree. Car And Driver’s Web site wrote that Kang’s team “has done a commendable job of giving the traditionally invisible Malibu a much classier and, yes, cooler set of duds.” Not bad for a relative newcomer to the field, one who didn’t enter the auto design industry until his mid-30s.

Kang was born in 1968, in the central Korean city of Daejeon. As a child, he developed an interest in cars, possibly inspired by his hometown’s position as a key transportation center. Car culture was not as pervasive in Korea in the ‘70s, so car ownership was less common than in the U.S., but Kang’s family did own a Ford Mach 4, which only further revved Kang’s imagination. But his parents pragmatically encouraged him to become a scientist or a diplomat.

But Kang’s dream to work with cars would not be quelled. Shortly after graduating from Hankook University of Foreign Studies with a degree in literature, he started working at Kia Motors, South Korea’s oldest car company. While happy to be working for such a prestigious automotive company, he was stuck in an office job that offered no creative input. And so, at the age of 32, he made the bold step to move to California, where he enrolled in the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, one of the premiere institutions for automotive design.

After completing the program in 2004, Kang was hotly recruited by a number of auto manufacturers, including Chrysler and Renault. But he selected GM, for both its diversity of product line and its employees. He moved to Detroit, the hub of America’s auto industry, and immediately began work on the Malibu redesign.