Genesis of Genesis: 5 Reasons Why the Hyundai Luxury Spinoff Will Work

  

In early November, Hyundai announced that it would be splitting the Genesis luxury sedan off into its own brand. It then dropped the curtain on the newest flagship of the newly spun-off Genesis franchise. These moves were expected, but were also the absolute right thing to do for Hyundai to continue its campaign of establishing the Korean automaker as a legitimate rival to big-name luxury players in the market. Here’s why.

Perfect Time to Grow

 

Hyundai has come a long way since its humble entry into the U.S. market in 2008. It now has the strongest product portfolio in the brand’s history, with attractive offerings such as the new Tucson and popular Sonata. And those products are so strong on their own, they do not need the gravitas of a car like the Genesis pull buyers into dealerships. These cars can stand on their own four wheels, so to speak.

Positioned for Success

When the Genesis first debuted it had style that amounted to an upscale, rear-wheel drive Sonata. With this current generation—and its big, bold grille—the Genesis as developed a style all its own. Hyundai has shown that it is following the trend of automakers like Audi and BMW, where the front end design of many of its vehicles look very alike. It would be pretty hard to have that design philosophy for every vehicle except for its flagship sedan. Meanwhile Hyundai is not forcing dealers to create standalone showrooms for its Genesis brand (if a dealer thinks its own showroom would be more successful in that market, they have the option), which is a smart, low-cost approach.