Whether or not you’re stirred by Hyundai’s new Genesis sedan, or more probably the rear-drive Genesis Coupe, it hard to argue that the company hasn’t made massive strides in a relatively short period of time.
While holding court with a group of journalists at a lunch in Namyang, South Korea, Hyundai President of Research and Development, Dr. Hyun-Soon Lee, reflected on the company’s origins and its future. Lee pointed out that when Hyundai was young it relied on Mitsubishi to supply it with basic four-cylinder powerplants for its vehicles. These days however, the Korean automaker actually supplies engine technology for the 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter units of both Mitsubishi and Chrysler, building around 1.7 million such in 2007.
Interestingly Lee also told a story about a meeting with Dr. Dieter Zetsche of Mercedes-Benz, at this year’s Beijing Auto Show. Zetsche had announced that he would like the prestigious three-pointed star to partner with Hyundai for four-cylinder engines. Reflecting Lee said, “I am not sure we want to share our technology.” And the world turns.
+ Automobile: Hyundai: from borrowing engines from Mitsubishi to providing them for Mercedes-Benz
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Lee shouldn’t be so quick to say no. This is a brilliant opportunity for Hyundai to prove its engineering mettle against M-B’s best. And a chance for a serious image boost. I’m sure Spectra owners would feel better knowing the (essentially) same engine is in the neighbor’s C-class.
BMW uses GM automatic transmissions, and Ferrari uses GM’s magnetic ride control technology from the Vette and Caddy’s - so I don’t see why this couldn’t happen as well. Especially in light of the progress Hyundai is making. This could go a long way towards establishing the Hyundai brand as a more serious player on the world scene since they’re trying to move upmarket with the Genesis products.
The old DCX was once a shareholder in Hyundai. Chrysler will supply new V-6 to M-B, so why not 4 cyl’s from Hyundai.
That’d be pretty cool if they supplied 4 cylinder engines to MB. I think it’d mark another nice step forward for Hyundai.
I believe Hyundai-Kia was involved in the GEMA project and the current Sonata, Optima and Lancer basically share the same engine block/crank. There’s a balancer module which can be added to make the engine smoother, or subtracted if the engine is tuned for all-out power (with dual CVVT). I believe the CVVT technology, for the single CVVT at least, is from MorseTec, a division of Borg-Warner.
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