When Hyundai debut the Genesis sedan Last year they made it clear that it had targeted the luxury community, they were putting the establishment on notice so to speak. Since then the economy has gone in the tank, and to almost everyone it seemed to be the worst time to introduce a flagship sedan. The skeptics were laughing at Hyundai.
I will be the first to say that a Genesis in no way is on the same level as a BMW 5-Series or even a Mercedes E-Class when it comes to performance. However to some that same argument can be made of the Lexus ES. However when comparing brands. American buyers tend to look at size and amenities and concentrate more on price than absolute performance. I guess you can call it a “good enough” approach. If it meets most or all of the American buyer’s needs and costs significantly less, the less expensive car will get the vote almost every time. Lexus all but devastated the Germans in the U.S. with this approach in the 1990’s, and Hyundai is using it now
Well now after a year of admittedly tough times we can take a look at the carnage see just how well the Genesis has faired. Early reports were indicating that Hyundai was making inroads against the establishment with a wide variety of makes and models being traded in for the “New Luxury” of the Genesis. But just who was suffering the most? It was too early to tell.
We can start off first by stating the obvious; Hyundai has sold 17,784 flagship sedans this year. Not a bad run for their first foray into the luxury car scene, and it is abundantly clear they were getting sales from somewhere. But with everyone suffering sales declines for the year you might think it could be difficult to determine who was being hurt the most. That answer might not be a difficult as you might think to answer.
For example if you take Mercedes E-Class sales into consideration, you will see that even with an overall decline of just over 20% in brand sales for 2009, E-Class sales are only down 0.1% for the year. Actually E-Class sales are only 37 units behind last year. So on the surface it appears to Mercedes-Benz, that Hyundai isn’t even a blip on the radar.
If we take a look at BMW’s iconic 5-Series you actually see slightly different story. Sales for the 5-Series are down 16.69% on the year. However with BMW brand sales in a nosedive of 25.6% overall. You can see the 5-Series is actually holding its own, actually selling 1765 more units than averaged against the overall sales decline of the brand.
Audi’s A6 is another story here all together. With sales of the A6 down 45.48% and brand sales down only 8.7% the A6 is losing ground somewhere and it isn’t pretty, but are they suffering from the “Genesis Effect”? With A6 sales suffering 3686 more unit loses than the overall sales decline it might seem so.
With Infiniti being sales almost identical to Audi, we can see the M is too suffering from the same fate as the A6. This time the M is suffering a whopping 45.03% decrease in model sales vs. a brand decline of 31.70% for the year. In short the M lost 1765 unit sales more than the overall brand sales decline for the brand would indicate. Someone is stealing these sales.
Last but of course not least we have two models that fall in the sights of the Genesis. Both the ES and GS fall in sights of the Genesis due to their relative sizes and classifications. Lexus has starting to show signs of a recovery, but brand sales have declined 25.6% for the year. However if we look at ES sales you can see they are down almost 31% on the year bleeding 4120 more units than the 25.6% brand decline would indicate. The GS is another story all together. Down a startling 58.3% the GS alone underperformed by 4829 units compared to overall brand sales percentages.
So if we take the models that under performed brand sales for the year, we can see the total losses bled off 14,339 units in sales. A figure that isn’t too far off from what Hyundai gained with 17,784 units.
Now to say this is a definitive explanation of who Hyundai has hurt most would be misleading. However when you compare the figures mathematically they do seem to give an indication of what could be going on in the industry.
Take a look at the figures below and tell us what you think.
| | 09 YTD | 08 YTD | % Drop | Units | Brand % | Est Drop | Delta |
| Genesis | 17784 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 17784 |
| A6 | 5463 | 10021 | -45.48% | -4558 | -8.70% | -872 | -3686 |
| E-Class | 32811 | 32848 | -0.11% | -37 | -20.10% | -6602 | 6565 |
| ES | 37844 | 54783 | -30.92% | -16939 | -23.40% | -12819 | -4120 |
| GS | 5771 | 13838 | -58.30% | -8067 | -23.40% | -3238 | -4829 |
| 5-Series | 32733 | 39289 | -16.69% | -6556 | -25.60% | -10058 | 3502 |
| M | 7277 | 13238 | -45.03% | -5961 | -31.70% | -4196 | -1765 |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| Underperforming Import Sedan Sales Decline Vs Brand Decline |
| | | | | | | | |
| A6 | 5463 | 10021 | -45.48% | -4558 | -8.70% | -872 | -3686 |
| ES | 37844 | 54783 | -30.92% | -16939 | -23.40% | -12819 | -4120 |
| GS | 5771 | 13838 | -58.30% | -8067 | -23.40% | -3238 | -4829 |
| M | 7277 | 13238 | -45.03% | -5961 | -31.70% | -4196 | -1765 |
| | | | | -35525 | | | -14399 |
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