#NYIAS: Hyundai Continues Quest To Be Known For Styling - Are They Succeeding?

Hyundai/Kia is doing a superb job of styling.

I would criticize Hyundai for going a bit too tame in the current round of introductions, but the cars are still attractive. I'd fault Kia for not going bolder, but Kia is on a roll too.

I think because the Genesis brand is a recent development, we have the Genesis sedan developed stylistically as a range-topping Hyundai. The G90 may have been designed before the decision was made to have Genesis be a brand, but it very nicely aligns with the Genesis sedan (G80??). Genesis New York--and I prefer that to G-whatever--conveys where Genesis as a brand will head stylistically.

The problem that Genesis will have - is overcoming the stigma of being made in Korea. Lexus has largely done that with is Japanese heritage - but other Japanese manufacturers have failed with their near premium car attempts as well.

And that is because people who buy in that market segment are also looking for the "cachet" of buying an expensive foreign car. Cadillac has proven that by largely producing competitive cars with the best in those size ranges - but they are literally stones in the dealer lots because Cadillac has chosen to IGNORE the people who would actually buy their car - to go after a group of people who simply won't consider them.

It takes a German to design a nice car :) They have one.

Genesis needs to focus on that "thing" that's going to separate them and create their identity. Each of the German luxury brands have spent decades forging their path and introducing a plethora of industry "firsts" in technology, safety, and performance. Lexus brought bulletproof reliability and is now trying to redefine "high performance". Acura, whether you agree or not, changed the landscape of what a super car was with the original NSX, not to mention being the first Japanese luxury brand. Even Infiniti brought sport-SUV to the market with the first FX. And obviously we know what Tesla is bringing to the game, in a big frickin' way. And Cadillac has the Escalade.
Hyundai has none of that, zero. Maybe they started "something" with the previous generation Sonata with regards to design, but they've already moved away from that. The new G90 isn't changing that, either, at least not that I'm aware of. The G90 isn't going to out-perform, out-tech, out-luxury, or out-design the S/7/A8/LS. They're continually playing the role of follower. Until Genesis breaks through with something that truly changes the landscape of the market, they will never be viewed in the same way as the current leaders. That's where even Cadillac is struggling on their sedan side. If Genesis builds really good cars, then they'll sell well, but they wont' be viewed as leaders. Much like what Volvo has done with the XC90.

Typical Eurocentric jingoism.

People like you buy image and people like me are happy to charge you top dollar for you wanting to buy the illusion.

I'm glad your infatuation with me and my posts hasn't changed. Clearly you have zero clue what I'm even saying in my post. Again, nothing has changed there, either.

And let me add that the only ones here who apparently are guilty of Eurocentric jingoism is Hyundai/Genesis, since their two lead designer hail from Germany and Belgium. LOL

Hyundai is actually getting known for plagiarizing styling elements from successful cars and sticking them onto their econoboxes.

So let me get this straight, Toyota stampeded VW and GM by stealing their better ideas? Toyota failed miserably because their reliability and durability is better than GM and VW and has been for decades.

Actually - the answer to that "question" maybe "yes". Remember -I believe even you are old enough to remember when Japanese cars were synonymous with JUNK and they did not last. At that time - the American Manufacturers were producing cars - that while the quality fit and finish was not good- they actually lasted forever - hardly ever broke down - and when they did they were largely cheap to fix.

THen - the american cars added all sorts of new features that were not reliable - power windows broke down regularly - power seats - and the cars got a deserved bad reputation. Meanwhile the Japanese produced small 4cylinder standard transmission cars - with crank windows - am-fm mono radios - and little else - but there was little to go wrong - they ran forever - and they were cheap to fix. The Germans also did so in the Beetle as well. And people migrated to the Japanese cars.

However - eventually - even the Japanese cars had automatic transmissions - power everything - and their reliability suffered - to the point that today - the American cars are as reliable as the Japanese. This is when the Korean cars came into the market - with horrendous reliability - but eventually they even moved up. So that today -reliability is largely related to electrical problems. Transmissions fail less than 1/3 the rate they did before the turn of the century for instance. But the fact is - taking Honda for example - Honda did not even have direct injection engines long after they were available from American Manufacturers.

Today - while "perceived" quality may still be different among manufacturers - the reality is - there is little difference between the ACTUAL reliability of Japanese and AMerican cars of similar content.

I cannot say anything about the American market, but for the UK market, it isn't just perceived quaity but actual quaity born out by stats, insurance and warranty claims etc.. So is it coicidence that Japanese still come out tops in relability ?