VW Hits Back At GTI Track Durability Criticism From Hyundai's N Boss

It seems Albert Biermann - boss of Hyundai’s fledgling N department - has been rather outspoken this week. Not only has he had a moan at Nurburgring records (they’re a “waste of time,” he said) - the former BMW M man also took it upon himself to have a pop at the VW Golf GTI.

“There can be [Golf] GTIs that are suitable for the track driving, but if you take the standard GTI, it’s not like that,” Biermann told Australian journalists the Detroit Auto Show. “It’s a great car…but after two laps the fun is over,” he added. When pressed as to what he thought would deteriorate over those two laps, he said “everything.” Ouch.

Naturally, such audacious comments didn’t go unnoticed at camp VW. According to Motoring, VW Australia managing director Michael Bartsch has responded. “Extraordinary claims are being made for supposed rivals that are not yet on sale,” he said.

“While any skunkworks can turn out a track day special, the expertise and experience required to engineer a GTI or an R - cars that also excel in the real world - is rather more hard won,” he went on to say.

Will that be the end of it, or is this just the start of a war of words between the two brands? We’ll have to wait and see. For now, Hyundai N is readying the new Veloster N for a launch in the USA this September, while in Europe the I30 N is on sale now, with an Australian market debut happening later this year.