Notice The Hyundai Genesis Has NO Badge On The Hood? Care To Guess Why?

Without a front badge, people might think that it's a custom S-class. I offers far better value than the overpriced (in Canada) S-class. This way, people can buy it and be proud of the money they saved.

Hyundai didn't want to mess up that giant grille with a big goofy badge.

Exactly. Even people who don't know about cars know that Hyundai is bottom of the barrel.

the car will obviously sell better without the Hyundai badge uglying the grill up, and those who buy it can drive without people being able to instantly recognize that they are driving a Hyundai.

Where I'm from, there is a slang term for a person driving a Hyundai: it's called 'falling off.'

That's funny. I'm not a Hyundai fan but even I know that they are not bottom of the barrel. I can think of other makes that are behind them. I recently had a Sonata has a car rental and it's a good, quitet, solid car, not on par with the top mainstream midsized cars, but definately not bottom of the barrel. If you actually drove one you would know, instead of spewing stuff about what you don't.

I think this could possibly backfire. People might look at and not see any badging, think it is an Infiniti or Lexus and head to those stores. They could then end up leaving with an Infiniti or Lexus without ever driving the car they initially went to look at. Is that possible?

^^ In the US, yes.

imho, they already KNOW putting a hyundai logo on it will instantly cheapen the image of an intended upscale car. i mean the hyundai logo looks like a distorted honda logo as it is.

they are using toyota/lexus as a model. an upscale line HAS to be separately branded if there is any kind of a desire to SUCCESSFULLY make a dent in the snooty luxury market.

they also have BAD models whose mistake they may've learned from: the intended mazda upmarket effort, scaled back to a MAZDA branded, Millenia model. which ultimately failed. and the vw phailedton.

I don't know why there's not a badge. Maybe so people will mistake it for a good car?

Oh Please 001,

You've obviously had it out for this vehicle from moment one, so give it a rest already, and let the more objective buying public decide.

Question:

Aren't even pseudo-journalist supposed to be unbiased/objective?

Just asking valid questions.

Never had it out as you say for this car.

I just expected more when I saw it in Detroit.

And gave the audience my true first impression.

Maybe when I drive it, my opinion will change.

001

A legitimate contender to the premium brands like they played it up

001

Considering what you're getting for the money, I think Hyundai did a great job. My guess is they'll sell far fewer of the $41k versions than they do $30k versions, but either way it's a good looking car and a tremendous value. I don't see much BMW, Mercedes, Audi, or Lexus cross shopping, since for the price you're looking at a large car (Hyundai) versus the smallest car in the lineup (all those others). But you might find some people cross shopping the CTS or TL, along with the majority of folks who will see this car as a value alternative to an Avalon or Maxima.

I agree that there target competition should be the Avalon and Maxima. Maybe the ES but ...

Don't you remember how Hyundai tested out a grille with a badge and this grille without one at a recent auto show?

Well, consumers liked this one better, so they're using it.

i dont like this one better, but i guess it doesnt matter since its not like im going to be buying one anytime soon. guess im not the target audience

The Badge was way overdone. Also if i was Bentely, I would get my team of laywers ready to go.

Is Hyundai going to use a different badge? Perhaps for a new Luxo line like Toyota/Lexus? Would be dumb to put a logo on their flagship luxo and their $10K econo cars. Though the Genesis should be called Frankenstein.

good looking car. Make the grill wider.

For the uninformed, their initial response is going to be "Is that a Lexus?", "Is that an Acura?", "Do you see a badge?", or "Maybe it might be a new European car?".

That's exactly what Hyundai's "Think About It" campaign is all about -- person sees car, likes it, finds out what it is, then consider buying one. I think it's the right approach. If it works, every struggling manufacturer will try to emulate it.

Hyundai is trying to give itself an image. Not that it's an overseas company, but a more American car brand. In their ads they speak of how they have plants in the US and such, basically telling us the cars are more US than anything.

And notice the ads they come up with. They compared the new Tucson (or was it Santa Fe) to the Land Rover in an ad that told us it had better braking, acceleration, slalom, etc. Then they put the Veracruz against the Lexus RX by having a woman get into the Hyundai thinking it was the Lexus.

Essentially they are trying their darndest to let people know, they are not some cheap, bottom line brand like they used to be, or like Kia is now. They want to compete and beat Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. And given their sales #'s, they have been doing a good job getting marketshare.

Now onto the no badging on the Genesis. Several reason I hypothesize.

1) They want you to mistake it for a higher end luxury car first, then realize it's a Hyundai. In other markets they did this with the old XG300 sedan, worked pretty well.

2) They may be creating a new luxury division that we do not know of. Think about it. The Genesis is without a doubt trying to compete with luxury instead of more directly with the Avalon's and Maxima's. They are trying to be better. So instead of giving it a Hyundai logo, wait a few years to see how they may stand up with this car, then create a new luxury brand name and slap it on. I use the example of the new rear drive V8 coupe they were working on and displaying that was rumored to be the Tiburon replacement. In fact it is not, the Tiburon is not offering a V8, and the car shown was slightly larger than the new Tiburon is going to be. So they could be again creating interest, and thus you would have the Genesis, and this new V8 rear drive coupe to lead the way in their new luxury brand. I mean, it works for Toyota, Nissan, Honda to have a luxury brand of some of their models. And if Hyundai is looking to meet or beat these 3, why not jump the bandwagon and see how they fair out. But instead of going full force into the luxo market, they kinda test the waters by offering a fairly high end (for Hyundai) car with lots of options, at a fair price, with a V8 option. Instead of flopping on the car like VW did with the Phaeton, they see if there is really a desire for people to want to move up from their beloved well running, awesome warranteed Hyundai's to something more upscale. Makes sense to me.

what a piece of crap

Hyundai is known as a basic entry-level passenger car manufacturer, not a luxury sedan manufacturer.

From a far enough away distance, someone who doesn't have absolutely advanced car knowledge could call it a Mercedes S-Class (from the headlight shape and size), a Lexus or an Infiniti.

People don't except a company that has some vehicles which are a load of crap to produce what looks like a good-quality luxury sedan.

Saying it is a Hyundai and having it badged with 'Hyundai Genesis' all over would definitely make some people thin twice on buying it.

I would buy it, because I don't really care about the brand, unless I'm buying a Ssangyong which I will never do, but some people who want their car's manufacturer to have a good history of building fine vehicles, can find a luxury saloon, better than this, elsewhere.

It is a good car, but in the end, people will find out it is a Hyundai, then buy it and call it a 'new Infiniti' or a 'new Lexus' or scrunch their nose up at it and look elsewhere.

I think Hyundai saw why VW phaeton failed and that's why they decided to illusion their brand...

This may be an exploring step before entering the lux market, where they never went before.

I think there are little car out there considering its offerings.

Lexicon audio, the same one Rolls-Royce also has, DIS (sort of i-drive in beemer), adaptive headlight with 375 horse power V8.

The only thing that'll block their way would be predeterminism over their brand.

I think the Hyundai Genesis is the car that will bring them into a higher market and be a true contender with it's competitors..not only from a design standpoint but an affordable package that looks the part as well.

I think KIA/Hyundai will eventually come out with their premium brand and I think the Genesis is a stepping stone into a different market. Just like Honda, Toyota, & Nissan did before it took them a little while to develop respectable luxury brands.

If you've seen one asian pseudoluxo car, you've seen them all...bland with really little distinction. This car will get lost in the asian pseudoluxo crowd, so why bother labeling the LexotoyoCamaryesque thing? next.

i dont care what any of you say, i personally would be very embarrassed to tell my friends that i spent 40,000 on a hyundai, just as i would be embarrassed to say i spent 70k on a phaeton.

If you have the money way would you be embarrassed. Folks spend 350 on a Phantom and I don't think its worth it even though I have had the pleasure of driving one once. I make enough to spend 70 on a car but my priorities are alittle different, I would rather spend the extra on vacations. I will spend about 45-50 and be rather happy with what ever choice I make because there arent to many bad 50 grand cars to choose from.And yes the Phantom was very over priced but a used 2006 is about 39 on a good deal day.

I thought that was a S class at first sight. looks good

I really don't give a rat's ass as to the why.

I think it looks good without the circle H. Nothing against the logo or the brand it represents, just a stylistic viewpoint.

People that are concerned about what other's think of their "expensive Hyundai" won't even be buying one anyway, so F'em.

not too bad an idea.

some years back, Olds did a similar thing with the new Aurora. no Olds logos anywhere. the car was simply Aurora. and some did think it was a new Lexus.

only AFTER the Aurora gained general acceptance, Olds put their own name on. and if i recall, subsequently used the Aurora logo to REPLACE the old Oldsmobile logo, with all its baggage.

I saw the Hyundai genesis concept and was minorly impressed by the appearance. but the production version looks WAY better.
It def stole something from the s-class with its greenhouse, and then the rest mostly infinity (taillights).
I really like the grill, and it would've been ruined with a cheap looking (for luxury) badge. and i think not having a badge on it will keep people guessing.
And once they do find out it is a Hyundai, i think people will be pretty impressed.

I can't figure out which one is more of an idiot and which one I hate more - 001 or 009?

me > 009 > 001

/end

LOL!!!

001

Oldsmobile did this with the first Aurora. The Aurora had no Oldsmobile badges on the exterior, so that consumers would think of it as an Aurora first, Oldsmobile second. It was a lousy strategy that was dropped for the second generation. (It still did not have the logo, but said Oldsmobile on the back.)

How can you be a flagship for a brand if you refuse to acKnowledge the brand?

i made my above comment before seeing this.

if i recall, the 2nd generation Aurora did not fail due to it's association with Oldsmobile, whose image the Aurora lifted.

it failed because Olds put it a step down in trying to gain more sales. styling became less distinctive. AND, it started to offer the generic gm v6, whereas the original Auroras ALL had the modern, dohc v8.
an engine olds/gm could rightly be proud of; gm's Indy Car racers used it, and the cars were called Oldsmobiles. even AFTER the Olds brand was killed if i recall. (more impressive than calling the racing engines Chevys.)

If I did not know any better I would think Auto Spies is getting paid to advertise for Hyundai because this piece of crap car is not worth talking about. I guess a lot of people can be bought easily.

The Aurora didn't do too badly though, it was at a time the only rear drive V8 sedan in GMs stable.

The Aurora was a great car, and it sold a couple hundred thousad units, but its lack of association with Oldsmobile cant have helped the faltering brand.

The aurora was front wheel drive. I know I have worked on a few.

The grille Hyundai chose for the genesis sold here is unique if not original but what design is nowadays. In my opinion they should use this grille on V8 models and use a completely different one on V6 models. Give each car its own identity. I think this car will drive home the fact that Hyundai is gaining in all areas quality,performance,safety. Now how about that second [Lux] channel? Hyundai needs to attempt to be the "biggest threat", and really aim high, just as Toyota did.

I'd be more inclined to think that depending on the success of this car....they may use it as a platform to launch a derivative brand focused more upmarket than the current Hyundai moniker.

If true, this would effectively provide them with three tiers: 1) Kia, 2) Hyundai, and 3) whatever they choose to call the new luxo brand

Time will tell...

I think in todays time badge is important. Hyundai should learn fast.

An under 10K car (Hyundai i30, Accent, Getz, Santro) and over 40K car (Genesis) should not share a showroom.
and remind u i am not against this showroom sharing thing but as i said earlier badge has become so important in todays time.

JUGNU

its because they want people to guess wat kind of car it is. i noticed kia did the no badge thing with the amanti. they want people to think its a lexus or a jaguar.

It's all marketing. This car is horrid and has no soul or personality. Just a weak copy of all the other premium luxury cars

The car has the badge on the back. It is interesting that the car does not say "Genesis" anywhere.

It says Genesis on the front. Its small but directly on top of the front grille.

The journalistic quality of AutoSpies has really gone down. Gone are the good old days of when AutoSpies actually did their own research to dig up news. Not scoop stuff up from other sources or just come up with random questions that don't mean a single thing.

Their ashamed right now. But if they get the "Luxury" name like they want they will put it on there and show off that it's a Hyundai.

They don't have to be ashamed of such a nice car. It does not need to flaunt an ugly badge -- its niceness is self-evident.

I used to hate it in the old days when car companies used to badge cars with the word "automatic" on the trunk when a customer bought a car with automatic transmission.

It's simple. Hyundai has been doing this in Korea for years, each model has it's own badge.

I speculate that Hyndai is playing down the branding on this car for the same reason that Honda plays down the branding on their cruisers: When someone buys a Honda cruiser motorcycle, they are buying into styling that looks a LOT like Harley-Davidson's. Having the "Honda" name where you'd normally see "Harley-Davidson" would be the end of the illusion. My guess is that Hyundai's reasons are similar.