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Albert Biermann, the man behind some of Hyundai's sportiest cars, retires

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Kia and Genesis, made big news by announcing at the end of 2014 that it was bringing on Albert Biermann to its research and development division. He had spent just over 30 years at BMW and was in charge of the M division before he left. His time at Hyundai led to some of the company's best driving cars, which meet or beat the global competition. But now, the company has announced Biermann is retiring. At 65 years old, it's not entirely surprising that Biermann would be looking at retirement, and he seems to be leaving on good terms. "Korea will remain as my second home, and all of my colleagues at Hyundai Motor Group will always be considered part of my family. I would like to recognize that our success has always been based on the strong collective spirit of the many talented people at Hyundai, and I will value our unique achievements wherever I live," he said in a release from Hyundai. Fortunately, Biermann will still be an Executive Technical Advisor for the company. Specifically, he'll be advising on electrified performance cars. We say fortunately, because Biermann has been so involved in some of the company's best cars. He helped make the company's rear-drive-based cars such as the Kia Stinger and Genesis models so fun to drive. He also helped setup Hyundai's N sub-brand, and the N models are among the best sport compacts in the world. Assuming Hyundai has taken to heart many things from Biermann, and with his continued advising, the company should still be in a good position. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 Hyundai Kona N Short Cut

2019 Hyundai Veloster shows off its colorful new face

The next-gen Hyundai Veloster is coming soon. When I was in Korea for the launch of the new Hyundai Kona, all three variants — standard, Turbo and N — were trotting around the automaker's proving grounds, teasing and laughing at us since we weren't allowed to use our cameras. After some sleuthing, we uncovered some new info. Thanks to the automotive media back in Korea, we have what appears to be official images of the new Veloster Turbo done up in some of the best-looking camouflage we've seen in a long while. The car will make its full debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January. It seems the car was shown off to the Korean press at Inje Speedway in Gangwon Province. The car retains the same basic three-door layout of the old model. That means two doors on the passenger side and one for the driver. The shape may be generally the same, but the car looks far cleaner than before. It's as if Hyundai's designers smoothed out all the lines and pulled the bodywork tighter to the frame. Like before, the exhaust appears to exit from the center, though the N model I saw in Korea and in spy photos has a more traditional dual-exit exhaust pipe. Floating red-painted calipers appear to clamp on some pretty large rotors. There appear to be two wheel designs, too. There aren't any photos of the interior, but once again our spy photographers have come through. The press release we found also lists a new heads-up display. Since these photos came from Korea, we contacted representatives at Hyundai here in the U.S. for more info, but weren't given any clear answers. All we were told was that the images came from their counterparts in Korea. Expect the Veloster Turbo to share the 201-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four and transmissions from the Elantra GT Sport. Korea apparently gets a 1.4-liter engine, but it's unclear if that's coming here. We hope the hopped-up Veloster N will get the 271-horsepower turbocharged inline-four from the i30 N. Hyundai has been on a killer roll as of late. We can't wait to drive this. Related Video:

Hyundai details its five Super Bowl ads, Santa Fe is MVP [w/video]

If the Super Bowl were Las Vegas, Hyundai would be considered one of its whales. The South Korean automaker will be advertising for the sixth straight year during The Big Game, and this time it's rolling up with five spots, four of them new. The new 2013 Santa Fe gets the star treatment, featuring in three of the spots, but the theme throughout is using "a Hyundai vehicle as the ultimate sidekick and partner-in-fun."
The four brand new commercials are:
Epic PlayDate - the headliner, uses the Santa Fe for "an unforgettable and epic play date" and features a brand new song from "a legendary alternative rock band."