Posted on 09/23/2017 8:00:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Shots fired.
Well, things are certainly getting heated between competitors in the auto industry right now. A BMW executive recently described the Mercedes X-Class luxury pickup as “appalling,” despite admitting that the firm is considering entering the premium pickup segment. Then Lewis Hamilton taunted Ferrari claiming that AMG can build a better supercar. And now the boss of Hyundai and Genesis seemingly got out the wrong side of the bed one morning, accusing luxury automakers like BMW and Mercedes of putting too much focus on “stupid” tech.
The head of Hyundai’s N and Genesis divisions Albert Biermann, who also used to head BMW’s M division, made the comments to Australian publication Drive during the launch of the new Genesis G70 in South Korea. He believes that automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz spend too much time and money on unnecessary technology that customers don’t want, which he sees as being too complicated and prone to failure. “It’s all marketing, first of all,” Biermann said. “How many people really buy it later on? Much of this exists for media, to give a hype, to show the technology level. But how many people really buy it later on? If the tech will fail, you’re just adding the burden to the buyer, right?”
Simply put, Biermann feels that automakers are putting too much focus into media and marketing and not the actual product – and this is coming from someone who worked at BMW for 30 years and led its M division, so he isn't inexperienced. He also thinks that quality testing for German cars has slipped, but that’s not the case for Genesis. “Our testing is much more intense,” he said. “We have 30,000 km test driving in [Hyundai’s research and development headquarters] Namyang, with all the bad cobblestones and potholes you cannot imagine. We run our cars there for 30,000 km, and then on top of that we do 10,000 km at the Nurburgring.”
“I don’t think anyone else is doing that anymore – maybe Porsche or Ferrari, but all the other guys they’ve stepped down from 10,000 km to 8000 km or 5000 km. And some, they do nothing anymore.” Instead of focusing on fancy technology, Biermann believes the key to Genesis’s success is building reliable cars that will still feel like-new 10 years later. “In our G90 you will not find any air suspension, or active roll-bars, or active whatever. A camera sensing the road, and this stuff. It’s stupid. We have a solid Hyundai steel platform, tonnes of high-strength steel – okay, it’s a little bit heavier than the other cars – and we have adjustable shock absorbers, and that’s it.”
OM617 Best motor ever put in a passenger car. People get 400,000 miles before a rebuild. More if they want to rive something that might fail. Fishing trawlers use the OM617 where they start it up in March and turn it off in October.
All three Hyundai autos I've owned are still on the road. One with well north of 100,000 miles and it's over 10 years old. By the way, Hyundai actually means forward-looking. It's a real word in Korean.
I paid $100 for mine and drove it for 12 years. It was still running when I sold it.
Doesn’t anyone make a drivetrain, four wheels, seats, lights, and a heater anymore?
My 2002 has more gadgets than I need. My best car was a 1987, with crank windows and fingerpop locks. I was glad to have AC, but lived without it before and since.
If I could buy a new car like that one I wouldn’t need to hear much from a salescritter. “You only have it in puke green? I’ve had one of those before, too. Here’s the check, gimme the keys.”
It’s all in the branding and perception.
Meh, I do “tire pressure monitoring” once a week with this cool little device the size of a ball point pen. If it breaks I can get another for under $20. Last one to break did it during the Dubya admin.
but it worked didn’t it?
Shoot, some of us sometimes deliberately back up with the door open to get a better view on things.
Mine has the square stick that pops out.
I’ve owned two Kia’s, Hyundai’s twin.
they were both excellent cars.
I would buy either brand without hesitation.
Sometime before I got my DD214 a young troop bought one. First the radiator (plastic?) cracked in half, then I dunno what other weird thing went wrong with it. Kid showed up one day in a used Grand Am and joked his Kia had been KIA.
Well MY Mercedes was so old, Hitler drove it to the submarine races....the REAL submarine races.
***BAM***
(Try the veal)
From the company that sells hydrogen cars in the US.
It reminds me of a Riviera back in the late seventies that had all its controls other than steering, brakes and gas, on a touch screen low on the dash. I drove one once for my boss who owned it and refused to even get into it again.
A car I loved was an old Mercedes D, a 60s? model- maybe earlier. It was narrow so that only two could sit on the back seat. I borrowed it to make trip up the coast in Florida. I appreciated the 41 mpg with its 20 g tank and it rode and responded very well.
A car I loved was an old Mercedes D, a 60s? model- maybe earlier. It was narrow so that only two could sit on the back seat. I borrowed it to make trip up the coast in Florida. I appreciated the 41 mpg with its 20 g tank and it rode and responded very well.
The hollow spars of the main rotor blades on the Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter are pressurized. If a crack develops, they loose pressure. So a pressure indicator very similar to your tire valve indicator was fitted.
It had alternating black & white rings inside a cover with alternating clear & white rings. Fully pressurized all was white. Loss of pressure showed black-white-black-white. They were called BIMs - Blade Inspection Monitors.
Thanks, pretty cool and they don’t cost 50 bucks to fix.
Solid vehicles and they aren’t as over-proud of their vehicles when it comes to pricing. These days, customers are getting ripped off by a lot just paying for a name when the vehicle isn’t any better/more reliable than it’s “low end car maker” products.
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