Kia Renews Commitment To The Luxury Market With Next Gen K900 - But Should They Move On?

lmao

Not sure why they bother.As Acura, Infiniti, and Genisis have shown, building a luxury brand from scratch is very hard. Maintaining one over decades, like Jaguar and Maserati and Alfa Romeo have shown, is even harder.

Writing is on the wall. Hyundai is spawning luxury-oriented Genesis and Kia seems like it's headed for its own sub brand focused on sport/lux market. With 4 brands total they would have a full product offering for the young (Kia), the mainstream-older (Hyundai), the luxury space (Genesis) and the sport lux space (some future Kia brand?). If you're thinking long term like they are it isn't the craziest idea. Also their designs are more appealing, albeit more conservative, than what is coming out of Japan.

LOL. Lexus moves on to a more forward design with the LS, so Kia picks up exactly where the outgoing LS leaves off. Is this how the Koreans (run by Europeans) plan on their success? By always being followers and basically being a generation behind?

For years - Rolls Royce and Bentley have been more than a generation behind - and that didn't stop them from setting record sales for years.

THe problem is - The true Premium Luxury Market is not based solely on the QUality of the car or the Performance of the car - as much as it is based on the PRESTIGE of the car. Today - a KIA is simply not a car that people want to spend big money to be SEEN in - nor is a Genesis - or Lexus - or Infiniti -or Volvo - or AUDI - these are all generic second tier luxury brands that do not generate the Prestige that Mercedes or Bentley or Rolls Royce do and will.

At least one reason for owning a Ferrari over a top of the line Corvette is that same "Prestige".

And it takes DECADES of staying true to the luxury game to actually generate that prestige - it is not just a high price. Infiniti - for example- had a truly superior car with their First car in the USA - the Q45 - but they let it stagnate too long - and eventually replaced it with several generations of Lesser cars. Had they continued to improve the car - maybe they might have reached the top tier - instead of being a second tier more expensive Buick.

I died laughing at the "sales records" and Rolls Royce being mentioned in the same sentence.

but Rolls and Bentley were a generation or two behind b/c of lack of innovation and investment on technology. Hyundai/Kia/Genesis are a generation behind because they copy the formula for other models that are already in production and when they finally introduce them, those copied models are already on to their next generation.

I had a Kia K900 for about 6 months when they came out and it's a good car. Is it a Mercedes beater? Hardly, but it's a lot better than anyone would give it credit for being.

That said Kia should NOT being competing with Genesis.

One thing is clear: K900 is the worst name for a car since the Acura Vigor.

I'd have name it after another piece of furniture like the Credenza.

Ah yes, the K900, a Time Travellers best companion.... Good Boy! Just don't pee in the Tardis.