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Genesis Luxury Brand Will Fully Embrace Its Hyundai Ties, Not Ashamed of Its Origins

Hyundai has officially announced it will be launching its new luxury standalone brand called Genesis this December, in an attempt to bolster the company’s prestige, but also tap into the expanding luxury market.
Hyundai Concept G 1 photo
Photo: Hyundai
With previous examples from Lexus, Infiniti and Acura that had mixed results, Hyundai now has the luxury of devising a strategy based on facts, rather than intuition. But the contemporary market has very little in common with what was happening back in the late `80s when these three brands were making their debuts.

It’s generally accepted that the main reason the Japanese luxury brands took off in the first place was because nobody paid any real attention to them. The Germans didn’t take their attempt seriously at that time, but that’s a luxury Hyundai won’t be having this time round.

Hyundai (and sister company, Kia) has taken everyone by surprise already with the brand’s rapid growth during the last decade, so you can imagine every move it makes or even plans is carefully studied by its competitors now. Those competitors used to be the mainstream brands present in the same markets as the Koreans, but now the more luxurious names are on high alert as well.

Given we’re living in the second decade of the 21st century, there was no point in trying to present Genesis as a stand-alone brand - information travels fast these days and in about five minutes, everybody would have known those Genesis cars are just posher Hyundais. Instead, the Koreans chose to be very upfront about it, and to prove it, they will actually sell the Genesis brand through existing Hyundai dealerships for now. Speaking on the subject, Chris Chapman, head of Hyundai California design studio, said, “Hopefully, people would associate [the two brands] and they'd go ‘Oh, a Genesis. That's a Hyundai. We know that.’ As opposed to saying, ‘Oh, a Genesis. Who makes that?’

I would look at it ... as the icing on the cake,” added Peter Schreyer, president and chief designer for Hyundai Motor Group.

The launch or relaunch of premium brands seems to be the occupation of choice for many carmakers these days, with Ford, FCA and General Motors all trying to do this exact same thing with Lincoln, Alfa Romeo or Cadillac. These companies, together with Hyundai, are betting large sums of money on the success of these marques, so expect to hear more about it in the coming months.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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