Genesis Options

[Otto73]

Hyundai Motor launches luxury car brand
Associated Press By YOUKYUNG LEE
11 hours ago

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Hyundai Motor Co. Vice Chairman Chung Euisun speaks during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015. The company said Wednesday it has launched a premium car brand named after its Genesis sedan to boost earnings and its share of the fast-growing global market for luxury vehicles.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it has launched a premium car brand named after its Genesis sedan to boost earnings and its share of the fast-growing global market for luxury vehicles.
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South Korea's largest automaker said that the Genesis brand begins with two sedans, including the namesake upscale car launched two years ago and a large flagship sedan slated for release next month.

It will add four more models including a sports coupe and sports utility vehicles by 2020.

The company began preparing for the brand in 2004. Hyundai had planned to launch it when it released the first Genesis sedan in 2008 but postponed because the global financial crisis dented sales of luxury cars.

Hyundai was the only major automaker without a separate luxury brand.

The announcement is a "new start" for Hyundai, said Chung Euisun, a vice chairman and grandson of the company's founder.

Even though luxury cars account for just 10 percent of global auto sales, they set technology and design trends for the overall automobile industry and their sales growth has outpaced mainstream cars.

Hyundai hired Luc Donckerwolke, former chief designer at Bentley who also previously worked at Lamborghini and Audi, to work on Genesis models as well as Hyundai cars starting early next year.

The move comes after Hyundai's latest quarterly profit slid to the lowest in five years.

Its sales in China dropped sharply this year, like other foreign auto brands in China, due to heightened competition from Chinese carmakers. The automaker's underestimation of strong demand for SUVs and a cheap Japanese yen that boosted rivals Toyota and Honda also contributed to its weak performance.

In South Korea, the company faced competition from German and Japanese cars.

[Otto73]

Hyundai Genesis G90: Putting South Korea on the Luxury Map?



In a 1989 review of the Lexus LS400, the Chicago Tribune declared, “Toyota took the BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes, separated the good features from the bad, then reassembled the parts and components into one machine using only the best features from each.”

Today, replace Toyota with Hyundai, and Jaguar with Audi in that equation, and you’ll get the G90. From the two renderings Hyundai has shown us, the influences are pretty clear. Yes, it’s done a great job developing a front fascia that’s recognizable as its own, but from the side you’ve got Audi to the A-pillar, a BMW greenhouse, and Mercedes lines bringing up the rear.

The design itself is based on Hyundai’s handsome Vision-G concept, and if that car was any indication of Genesis’s direction, it looks like Hyundai just might have a contender on its hands. The company says it “… created the Genesis brand for a new generation of discerning consumers. Capitalizing on its success in the fast-growing global car market, Hyundai Motor will launch six new Genesis models by 2020.” We sincerely hope this potential BMW 6-Series/Audi A5/Mercedes S-Class Coupe fighter is one of those six.
Source: Hyundai



But in the meantime, we’ll have the G90, and while its hero worship may be a little transparent, it’s by no means a bad thing. There’s no word on technical specs yet, but Hyundai describes the Genesis line as embodying “Athletic Elegance,” so at the very least, we can expect it to keep up with its European and Japanese rivals. But that’s the biggest danger for Genesis: to succeed, it can’t just keep up with the Jones-es. The LS400 established Lexus 25 years ago because it was simply a better car than its rivals. It was faster than the BMW 7-Series, better built than the Jaguar XJ, more advanced than the Mercedes S-Class – and cheaper than all three. It’s only natural that its ascendance to major automaker status, Hyundai launches a luxury brand. Only time will tell if it can take the lessons of the past to make Genesis the premium brand of the future.