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Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea’s largest carmaker, has appointed a former BMW design chief and renowned industry expert, Thomas Schemera, to lead its newly-established High-performance Vehicle and Motorsport Division, with the aim to enhance its high-performance vehicle and motorsport business.
The High-performance Vehicle and Motorsport Division, launched this March, will streamline Hyundai’s strategy, product planning, sales and marketing capabilities for high performance vehicle operations to maximize synergy between the company’s headquarters and its motorsport arm, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH, to further develop the high-performance vehicle business.
Since the company’s foray into high-performance vehicles in 2012, Hyundai Motor has steadily expanded its global presence in this field. Last year, the company launched the high-performance N line-up with the i30 N model, followed by the Veloster N’s world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year.
“I am thrilled to join Hyundai Motor, which presents incredible prowess in its high-performance technologies through models like the i30 N, despite being relatively new to this competitive scene,” said Schemera. “I shall dedicate my expertise and knowledge obtained over my three-decade-long career to making a significant contribution to Hyundai’s development in this field and to provide pure driving pleasure to our customers.”
Schemera, 55, was born in Germany and studied mechanical engineering at the Bochum University of Applied Science, and industrial engineering and economics at the Munich University of Applied Science. He began his career as a design engineer at BMW in 1987. He played various key roles at the BMW Group, including a four-year term as vice president of sales and dealer development in the mainland and Greater China region, where he led the four-fold increase in sales of BMW and BMW M models from 2005 to 2008. Most recently, he served as head of BMW M and BMW Individual in the Americas.
“Thomas Schemera is one of the most renowned experts in the high-performance vehicle business, with experience in all of the world’s major markets,” said Albert Biermann, president and head of Performance Development and High-performance Vehicle Development at the Hyundai Motor Group. “I am excited that he is joining us and I’m confident that his participation will help put Hyundai’s high-performance vehicle business onto the fast track,” said Biermann, who joined the Hyundai Motor Group in 2015 to lead the group’s high-performance vehicle development.
The philosophy of Hyundai’s high-performance N development is to make the driver’s heart beat faster whenever they are behind the wheel. Instead of focusing on outright performance numbers, Hyundai chooses to emphasize the N-driver’s heartbeats per minute (BPM), rather than revs per minute (RPM). After the 2017 introduction of the i30 N model, Hyundai is about to add the Veloster N model to the high-performance line-up this year and plans to further expand customers’ choices for fun-to-drive models.
Biography of Thomas Schemera (55):
2015 ~ 2018 : Head of BMW M, BMW Individual in the Americas
2009 ~ 2014 : Vice-president of Sales, Marketing and Driving Experience at BMW M, Germany
2005 ~ 2008 : Vice President of Sales, Dealer Development at BMW, Mainland and Greater China
1987 ~ 2007 : Various posts at BMW Group
1987 : Admission at BMW as design engineer
