The Inside Scoop On Why Lexus Needs To Fear The Hyundai Equus

These two quote should show you alone just who and how well Hyundai is targeting Lexus:

In many ways, Genesis buyers resemble the first group of Lexus owners in the early 1990s. Like those buyers, today's Genesis owners see the extraordinary value their car provides versus the competition, and their discovery of this value by itself is very appealing to them.

And

According to J.D. Power's most recent Initial Quality Survey, had we launched Genesis as its own brand, it would have tied Lexus for the best quality in the industry.

Lexus was mentioned 11 times in the artical

I accidentally delete the response from "Invisible", so I am posting it below:


I knew from the title who created this thread.

So 009, I see you actually took the time and counted how many times Lexus was mentioned in the article.

Could you please go back and count how many times Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac, et al...were mentioned?

Thanks in advance.

Actaully:

Bmw 6 times
Mercedes 5 times
Cadillac 1 time
Audi 1 time

I think it is clear who they are gunning for.

The article was written by Hyundai about the Equus. You pretty much read that they targeted Lexus and the Germans (to a lessor extent) when they did the Genesis and will do the same with the Equus, learning from VW along the way.

He is very correct in his assessment of the failure of the Phaeton. VW never did establish itself as a leader in the US but they introduced an expensive car and expected it to be a hit. Very short sighted.

Walk first then run VW.

As you can tell with the Genesis ranking the same as Lexus in the JD Power results they hit the mark the first time. Add into that the adding service level that they intend to offer and they have created a niche that no one else is covering.

To 009-bashers: Lets try to separate the man from the message. Meaningful and useful information may come from someone you hate :-)

You would think so now wouldn't you. Dyslexia is not the easiest thing to deal with.

Invisible: Not everybody here speaks english as native language...and there are some that speaks more than 2 or 3 languages, so some errors are posible....The real problem will rise if you are not able to interpret....sorry if my english is not up to your level.

Invisible has a point you do need to see less typos.

Who cares about typos etc this is not English class.

It's not an English class, but it's sure interesting to see the miserable state of affairs for those who profess to use the English language. Between the people who can't speak/write, the 70% of people in the US who are overweight, and the number of people in ridiculous amounts of debt, I feel like it's a place full of uneducated morons who lack any sense of personal responsibility.

Then talking about what realy makes sence for us, If Hyundai follow the current path, Lexus will be impacted more than the German brands....no questions about that, so if that is the point of Invisible..I agree. Equus is as bland as the Lexus (which is not bad cause there is a big market for that niche).

There is one major problem with this article. It's a press release from Hyundai itself, not some independent analysis.

Here's one example of why you should take it with a grain of salt. The Hyundai exec states how successfule the Genesis has been in comparison to cars in its class, 4th place. Yet it doesn't include the Acura TL (now it would be in 5th place), nor does it mention that many of those sales are of the completely different Genesis coupe. Nice little trick, huh.

Corporate spin. Please identify it as such.

It's not so important that this is Hyundai PR at its best; the point is that Hyundai wants to do what Lexus did 20 years ago - start a whole new luxury brand with a focus on value. Deliver more luxury for the money than anybody else, and just to get a foothold in the market, be willing to make only a slim profit if at all.

What was Lexus in 1990? Nothing. Look at where it is now 20 years later. No differently, if Hyundai invests the same resources as Toyota did (or even more than Toyota), how can they not succeed in 20 years? Remember, the timeline is not 5 years or 10 years, but it may be 20 years.

value + luxury + some performance + 5 star customer service + mass market styling (bland) = big hit

What Equus needs to do is put out a sports car along the lines of the original Lexus SC of the mid-1990s.

If you have enough money to buy the original luxury car you don't need to take the wanna be cheap copy is so simple,but if you don't. Here is your option is the same when you can't afford a LV Bag , so visit Chinatown lol...

pepito66 - That fact alone may be the reason they succeed.

Remember that grocery store manager out there makes $45K and still wants a luxury car. In his mind he has hit the big time.

In reality though he doesn't want a Mercedes with $150 oil changes, and $300 checkups. But he can be convinced to blow that cash on a Hyundai where the cost to own and maintain is far cheaper.

Some people will go to Costco and vacation along side those who shop at Neiman Marcus. Does that make them less rich? No they simply decide that their needs are met without senseless waste.

That is the target for Hyundai, not those that can afford a private island to build a vacation home.

Maybe they are carving their own type of company out of the bedrock not copying someone else notion of what a car company should be.

I think Lexus has the most to lose from Hyundai. Since Lexus is the "affordable" luxury brand and that's the exact market Hyundai is going after. That being said, it's still a hyundai. If hyundai were smart they would have created a different brand identity for their luxury division just like Honda, Toyota, and Nissan have. It's hard to have a dealer experience that's on par with Lexus at a hyundai dealership. I've driven my friend's Genesis and compared it to my GS and it's just not there. The leather feels cheap and the fit and finish just isn't there. It's a good start but with the new designs Lexus has put in place (especially the interior) they will be able to put off the hyundai attack.

Hyundai is definitely on the right path, regardless of what numbers their PR guys are putting out there. Even Toyota has admitted that they are one of their top rivals now.

Hyundai maybe targeting Lexus but in 1989, LS400 set the benchmark in it's class in many categories like Luxury, electronics, reliability, price...etc and was at least on par with established German marques in performance and quality. The latest LS models(LS460 and LS600h) continue to set standards in it's class in various departments like fuel efficiency, reliability, NVH, Hybrid power, 8 speed auto, self parking, ottoman seats...etc.

Hyundai Equus hasn't done anything like that. It didn't set any standards and looks like a Lexus LS460 copy both inside and out.

JUGNU

That's the Hyundai great mistake try to compare with the top original luxury brands , they need to do something by them self, now is enough with the design copies , people are different as cars and have theirs own personality too. Like Agent 009 said if Hyundai if for people that they don't want to waste to much money in a oils change ok perfect , but dont't try to stand in the same position like the big one because the price for this position is to high in every meaning. Oils change,tires,brembo brakes,high quality leather, etc etc. Even if they use similar materials never be the same because Angelina Jolie is not the same as Madonna, and Brad Pitts is not the same as Antonio Banderas, so the King always hold his position like it or not.

They also has a commercial that they said theirs cars is better painted than Mercedes.....yeap right , they learned to paint a car three of four months ago, The first thing they need is respect to learn from their leaders and then probably they will send to you an invitation to a party.