Hyundai Fires North American CEO For Poor Sales

Not his fault....prices are getting too close to honda/toyota

Exactly. This is also the problem with genesis. They are charging too much for kia/hyundai/genesis and at that price people will always get the higher quality options.

Quality is there but not the panache hence the threshold

I agree to the person making the Genesis comment. Hyundai seems to think they can vault right into the top of the luxury market, but the current Genesis products are on par with Buick and Lincoln. It just takes time to build up to the upper tier of luxury, and some brands never get there.

All true. Plus big boys are now taking you seriously as competitors and developing strategies to protect their market share against your enchroachment.

They are in the most competitive part of the market and their image is a bargain brand makes it is a tough sale against brands, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru. Zuchowski may be held responsible for less effective marketing, other than the Soul model success.

Hyundai sales around here are doing just fine.

With all of the Hyundai cars being shown here with the accompanying "Who should be afraid" title, I guess it was Zuchowski that should have been afraid.

Perhaps not all Hyundai retailers are as strong as those in SoCal?

Hyundai/Genesis have kind of hit a plateau with the forward momentum they had going a few years ago. Their product design has fallen off a bit (outside of the new Tuscon) and it looks like the North American VP is taking the fall for those design flaws.

Hyundai is much improved over the years. However it still does not have the historical panache of Honda, Toyota, Nissan or the Euro brands.
Therefore it must charge a minimum of 10 to 15% less than the brands listed. That also includes its Genesis brand. Further this is a crowded market place. Hyundai very much a "me too" brand. It is not very unique. It does not offer anything special enough to make enough people want to leave the Euro or Jap brands other than price. That maybe its fundamental mistake. Take the Hyundai Elantra. Why would somebody today pick an Elantra over a Mazda 3 or Honda Civic or even a VW Golf? It offers no handling or ride advantage. It does not offer any performance advantage. It's interior quality is no better than the cars I mentioned.
So the only thing left is price. You might be able to get it for less. But that is not enough perhaps of an inducement to make somebody lust after a Hyundai. As I said originally this is a crowded market. If you don't have the heritage or the customer loyalty you either have to offer something just a little bit better or offer a simply smoking deal.

Bingo!

The G80 is not being steeply discounted. Discounted yes, but not steeply. That is a good sign.

Two friends are moving to G90s.

My brother-in-law went from a Mercedes E to a first-gen Genesis to a second-gen Genesis and soon to a G90. His experience with Mercedes was fraught with reliability issues and Genesis the complete opposite.

Meanwhile, his husband--my bother--loves is V10 BMW 5 Series and plans never to sell it.

My brother-in-law's father used to have 2 S Class Mercedes in his garage and because of his son's experience with Genesis went with an Equus--and loved it--and is picking up a G90 soon. He has a 2015 S Class and soon a 2017 G90.

Hyundai HAS earned its equality now it must build reputation.

The 2 Genesis sedans and the Kia K900 are/were stunningly reliable. So if people gamble on Genesis, they will likely not regret it.

That is a good thing.