South Korea’s top auto group Hyundai Motor has hired another former BMW M engineer for its newly launched high-performance vehicles and motorsport division to bolster its supercar business.

Hyundai Motor said on Thursday it has recently established a new division for high-performance N series models and motorsport business and appointed Thomas Schemera, former head of BMW M and BMW individual of the Americas, to lead the division.

The new supercar business was set up after Hyundai Motor integrated related development teams scattered at home and abroad with an aim to create synergy for efficient product planning and sales. The Korean auto giant has announced that it will strengthen its N series lineup to boost its sales with its first high-performance model i30N and the new model Veloster N, which is due to be released this year.

Thomas Schemera is an expert in high-performance vehicles who joined BMW in 1987 as a designing engineer and has worked at the German luxury automaker for 30 years. Schemera, appointed as the executive vice president, is not the first former BMW engineer Hyundai Motor has recruited. Albert Biermann, who was also a BMW M veteran, joined the Korean car maker in 2015, and he is currently the chief executive of the high-performance vehicle development team at Hyundai Motor Group.

In recent years, Hyundai Motor has aggressively increased the number of foreign auto professionals to improve its design and brand awareness. Peter Schreyer has been leading the Korean auto giant’s design department since 2006.

The newly launched high-performance vehicles and motorsport division on top of its aggressive foreign talent acquisition is expected to help put Hyundai Motor’s high-performance car business on the fast track.

Hyundai Motor’s high-performance vehicles have lately made good results at global rallies and touring car championships like World Rally Championship and TCR International Series. It has been selling its i20 R5 model for rally teams from all over the world since September 2016 and released i30N TCR for circuit racing in November 2017.

By Kang Young-woon and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]