Promoting High-performance, Racing Cars

Hyundai Motor's first high-performance car 'i30N.'
Hyundai Motor's first high-performance car 'i30N.'

 

Hyundai Motor will set up a new high-performance business unit and launch high-performance cars and racing cars business in earnest. To this end, the automaker brought in an executive who was responsible for BMW's high-performance car segment.

Hyundai Motor announced on March 1 that the automaker newly established the High-Performance Car Division and recruited Thomas Schemera, a former vice president of the North American business division at BMW’s M Division.

The High Performance Car Division is the integration of domestic and overseas commodity planning, sales and marketing organizations scattered in many divisions. Its key challenge is a soft landing by the N Series, which Hyundai Motor first unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year. Hyundai revealed its i30N, the first model of the N series, at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year. In the second half of this year, the automaker will release the 'Belostor N'. It is also known that Hyundai Motor is developing the 'Tucson N' model for its launch in the US in the second half of next year.

The High Performance Car Division is also responsible for the motor sports business. Hyundai decided that it would be more efficient to combine the divisions together because high-performance cars are related to motorsports. Currently, the Hyundai Motor Group is participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and the TCR International Series and sponsoring various racing competitions. In the future, the automaker will promote sales of racing cars for professional and amateur racing teams going beyond brand publicity through participation in motor sports. Hyundai has been selling the i20 R5, a rally racing car, for racing teams around the world since September 2016, and launched the i30 N TCR, a circuit racing car based on the i30 N in November of last year.

"Technology used in Hyundai Motor's i30 N and Gyeongju Expressway is so high that it is hard to believe that the company just started its high-performance car business," vice president Schemera. "We will put all of our capabilities into the high-performance car business.”

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution