What can Hyundai do silently and inexpensively that Volkswagen and BMW can't?
Someone at the Frankfurt Motor Show caught Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn investigating aHyundai i30 as if he was just like one would expect from an intrigued engineer at a rival company. It might be too much to infer that the Herr Doctor is impressed by what he finds, but there is no doubt that he's got some questions that will need answering when he leaves.
At about 1:45, while sitting in the cabin, he adjusts the steering wheel and begins to query his seconds on what he discovers. As far as our native German speaking helper could tell, Winterkorn wants to know how Hyundai managed to make an adjustment mechanism that doesn't make any noise, going so far as to say, "How do they do it? BMW can't do it, we can't do it... no clanging!" And then one of the gentlemen appears to answer, "We had a solution but it was too expensive..."
translation in bold below:
Winterkorn: "Bischoff, wo ist der Bischoff? {...} Da scheppert nichts! {...} Warum kann es der? BMW kann es nicht. Wir können es nicht... Kein Scheppern!" Voice Off-camera: "Wir hatten ja mal eine Lösung gehabt, das war zu teuer {...}"
Translation WINTERKORN: "Bischoff, where is Bischoff? {...} There is no clanging! Why can they do it? BMW can't do it, we can't do it... No clanging!" Voice Off-camera: "We once had a solution, but it was too expansive then {...}"
