For effectively over a year, Hyundai has contemplated how to tackle the efficiency vehicle segment after announcing its new “N” sport-model series. Every choice was on the table, from adding graphics and a louder exhaust to otherwise regular cars to using bigger engines from higher-positioned models, up to a complete-fledged work that would rival—at least in concept—BMW M GmbH, Audi Quattro GmbH, and Mercedes-AMG. It appears that Hyundai’s efforts are about to get a excellent sturdy kick in the shorts, as the automaker just announced the hiring of BMW M’s chief engineer, Albert Biermann.
To be stationed at Hyundai’s R&D center in Namyang, South Korea, Biermann will be accountable for the improvement of high-efficiency derivatives for the Hyundai and Kia brands he is also tasked with the common improvement of ride and handling, as nicely as safety and comfort, of mainstream Hyundai and Kia models. The Koreans have made fantastic strides in dynamics the past handful of years—look no additional than the newest Genesis sedan—but they still have a techniques to go prior to sporty competitors like Honda and Mazda have something to be concerned about.
That said, we are excited over the prospect of higher-overall performance models for the 2 Korean brands, which we fully count on to rival the offerings of the German competition, as effectively as Cadillac’s V-series and Lexus’s F models. “N,” by the way, is a moniker derived from the Namyang R&D center but it could also stand for “Nürburgring,” exactly where Hyundai operates a new testing center.
But back to Biermann—clearly, Hyundai-Kia’s gain is BMW’s loss. With Biermann’s departure, BMW loses its second passionate auto guy from prime management ranks this month. Just 2 weeks ago, R&D chief Herbert Diess deserted BMW to head up the Volkswagen brand in Wolfsburg. Biermann, who is 57, apparently figured he wouldn’t have a lot of a profession left at BMW when the company announced that outgoing M GmbH chief Friedrich Nitschke would be replaced by Franciscus van Meel (48 years young) on January 1, 2015 (a move we 1st reported in May possibly 2014). At BMW, senior managers retire at 60, and it is a rule with couple of exceptions.
At Hyundai, Biermann will be the most prominent Western executive to be head-hunted soon after design chief Peter Schreyer abandoned VW for Kia. (Schreyer now heads up style for both Kia and Hyundai.) His hiring at Hyundai is serendipitous, for last year we were told that the automaker’s N models would attempt to emulate BMWs’ dynamics. To that end, Biermann’s crowning achievement at BMW might have been the current M3 and M4 with their downsized, turbocharged straight-6 engine and bespoke manual transmission and steering technique. We’d be okay with a little M3/M4 in some Hyundais. Would you?
Hyundai’s Work to Fire Up Competitor to BMW M, Mercedes AMG Gets Boost from Former BMW M Chief Engineer
