Performance R&D boss isn’t chasing headlines.
Albert Biermann cuts one hell of a figure in the automotive industry. Having spent over three decades of his life with BMW, the engineering wizard stunned industry observers when he announced that he would be leaving his posh offices in Munich for new digs in Seoul, answering to the bosses of the enormous Korean conglomerate Hyundai. It was one of the Hyundai’s big industry poaches, also grabbing what talent they could from companies like Bentley and Lamborghini.
Biermann, aged 60, grew up at a time when BMWs were known for their engineering brilliance and excellent reliability, owing to the use of time-tested technologies. What tech that was used were tested to their most extreme limitations, with only the most hardy finding their way onto the cars that got pushed to the showroom floor. And the former M-division head’s nostalgia has shown somewhat, with comments he made to Drive at the launch of the Genesis G70 about industry-leading technology ensuring his opinion is abundantly clear.
“It’s all marketing, first of all. How many people really buy it later on? Much if this exists for media, to give a hype, to show level of technology. But how many people really buy it later on? If the tech will fail, you’re just adding the burden to the buyer, right?” — Albert Biermann, Genesis & Hyundai N Division, Hyundai Motor Company
Simplicity is the ethos that Biermann is hammering into his engineers in Korea, supported by Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-koo’s unwavering focus on quality and reliability, even a decade down the line. In order to do so, Biermann explains that Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis cars are tested far more rigorously and to far higher standards than its counterparts, and that the company is far more wiling to spend its resources doing this rather than pioneering the next wave of technology.
“Our testing is much more intense. We have 30,000km test driving in Namyang [Hyundai’s R&D headquarters in Korea], with all the bad cobblestones and potholes you can imagine. We run our cars there for 30,000km and then we do another 10,000km at the Nurburgring. I don’t think anyone else is doing that anymore — maybe Porsche or Ferrari, but all the other guys have stepped down from 10,000km to 8000km or 5000km. Some, don’t even do anything anymore.” — Albert Biermann, Genesis & Hyundai N Division, Hyundai Motor Company
He believes that most luxury brands spend far too much of their time devoted to developing technological and engineering solutions that sell well to the media, but deliver little to the actual customer (we’re looking at that gesture control nonsense from BMW). To draw a comparison, Biermann zeroed in on the Genesis G90, the large luxury saloon that the nascent luxury Korean marque positions against the Lexus LS, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Audi A8 in the North American market.
“If I want to sell a G90 to a US customer, there are other OEMs that show their flagship car on the racetrack. The car is in the luxury segment, but they show all the racetrack talent. Which 2.2-tonne luxury car will ever see the racetrack? We don’t do this kind of stuff. We work for the customer first, less so for the media. We do some stuff for the media, but we work for the customer first. In the G90 you will not find air-suspension, active roll-bars, or active anything. No camera sensing the road and all that stuff. It’s stupid. We have a solid Hyundai steel platform, and we have adjustable shock absorbers, and that’s it. We still outpace the S-Class in the double-lane change in the Consumer Reports. Almost beat BMW, without the fancy stuff.” — Albert Biermann, Genesis & Hyundai N Division, Hyundai Motor Company
For a company that has only been around for the last three and a half minutes, the fact that Genesis can now be mentioned in the same breath as Germany’s best (albeit from one of its own executives) is proof that the Hyundai Motor Company is making up for lost time at an unbelievable pace, and that the sky is the limit for the Korean automotive conglomerate. With the praises being sung for the Kia Stinger, it’s only a matter of time before they drop soju-laden bombs on the establishment, and we’re certainly looking forward to that.
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