gengar

You will note that 1) I did not say anything about the i8 or GT being high volume; 2) I did not say anything about Lexus not backing the F marque; and 3) I did not say that Hyundai will change their entire company because of one engineer - in fact, I said the exact opposite is quite possible.

For reasons completely unknown to me, you are intent on emotionally defending Lexus to the point that you are not only claiming I said things I never did, but doing so in a context completely irrelevant to both the OP and my posts. If you want to change the context of my posts into a discussion about Lexus' direction, create a new thread for it - don't do it here. And give me at least the most basic modicum of respect and actually read my posts instead of accusing me of saying things I didn't.

spwolf

Well, it sure looks to me like you did say all those things. But if you did not, or you meant something different than what you wrote, then I apologize... thats how it reads like though.

In any case, not worth arguing about.... Merry Christmas!

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

Good for hyundai. At least they're continuing to improve and not standing still.

Lexuslvr91

Ok so great and brings us back to your first post. Now that Hyundai received help from Lotus then they shouldnt need to consult them again and therefore they should now know how to do suspension.

TangoRed

Haha. Don't oversimplify things. It's a good start.

Whatever learning they gleaned from Lotus will certainly be helpful, but bringing in someone in the last year of development for ONE vehicle does not make a bunch of experts. This does not mean Kia/Hyundai is all the sudden going to know how to tune sports suspensions, economy cars, or even vehicles with different suspension setups for that matter. I would imagine the Sedona wouldn't have emerged with classic Kia suspension tuning if the entire engineering department in both companies suddenly became virtuosos.

They're going to need a leader who is skilled in this department and can bring consistency across models and leadership to address the one major gap I think Hyundai/Kia has. Hopefully Albert Biermann is the guy.

mmarshall

Dutch (Boer), I'd assume?....... since you're in South Africa.

Depends on what you mean by "character". Acura and Infiniti products, though well-built as you indicate, don't have very much of what I'd call character. They also are rather poorly-marketed. Mitsubushi products seem to lack in quality, character, and marketing (My guess is that Mitsubishi will be out of the American market soon). On the other hand, Mazdas, at the other end of the Japanese character-scale, have often been known as the "Poor Man's BMW".

dseag2

Hmmmm, maybe Acura with the NSX or Nissan with the GT-R and they still don't have performance images either. It takes more than a halo model that very few people can afford. The sportiness needs to permeate the brand, and Lexus is doing a good job of that right now with the GS, IS and RC. I'm sure it will continue.

Big Andy

The hiring of overseas talent is by no means a new thing by Hyundai. Back in the late 60s when they wanted to start making their own cars the first thing they did was go out and recruit the MD of British Leyland and five of his top engineers. The more recent recruitment of German stylists and engineers continues that.

mmarshall

Thanks. Interesting. I wasn't aware of that.....but it DOES help explain something.

No offense, Big Andy, and don't take this the wrong way (I know you live in Britain). But you probably know how unreliable British-designed vehicles were back then. If THAT's where Hyundai was getting much of their assistance and direction from, no wonder they their own vehicles, back then, were equally unreliable.

nipponbird

Yes, they did hire George Turnbull of British Leyland, why is anybody's guess, because at that time the British Auto industry started its downward spiral. There must however, be something to the British car, otherwise the Germans wont try to save some of them from extinction.

mmarshall

Yep.....among other problems, BL persisted with those awful Lucas electrical systems and Leak-O-Matic cork-gaskets, even with it was evident that they were second-rate.

Well, yes, despite their unreliability, British luxury cars of the period wrote the book on premium interior trim and materials.........though the late-60s GM luxury cars (Cadillac, Buick Electra 225, Olds 98) were also very finely-detailed inside. You could often tell a Jaguar interior, blindfolded, just from the distinctive smell and feel. Unfortunately, today, Jaguar (and, to a lesser extent, some Bentley) interiors are starting to look more and more Germanic.....just like their owners. Gone is the acres of rich wood and leather inside, replaced by brushed-metal and carbon-fiber.

spwolf

also japanese engineers too... most of their engine engineers are from Japan... same goes for other companies in Korea as well.

spwolf

i think once Hyundai commits to developing full line of luxury vehicles under separate brands, goodies will start to flow.

Unlike Japanese manufacturers, Koreans are willing to hire outside talent to work for them.. Japanese prefer to do it in-house.

This is actually good for Koreans, but they do need to actually become serious about their Luxury brand.. and if they do, it will take them at least 10 years to develop several model lineup, and 15-20 to compete with everyone.

I think they should do it, and do it right now.