Five Things Genesis Needs To Do Become A Successful Luxury Brand

(1) Stop being delusional. (2) Stop being delusional. (3) Stop being delusional. (4) Stop being delusional. (5) Stop being delusional.

Com'on, Hyundai has an established and amazing automotive history. Don't you remember the AWESOME Hyundai Pony! That's a great heritage for any Genesis owner to reflect back on.

5 things:
Big SUV 3 row
Medium SUV
Medium SUV fastback version
Small SUV
Small SUV fastback version

This guy Jared need not run a car company.

Yes, he is correct in that Genesis needs SUVs, yesterday. And they need hybrid/EV models eventually. But even Benz and BMW are still light on hybrid/EV cars.

They do not need a flagship sports car. They do not need a performance division. Not yet, anyway.

They need to be original and stop following the leaders. They need to be the leaders..in something, anything. The company has been following and copying everyone else for too long. Hyundai/Genesis have not brought one single thing (that I can think of) to the industry that was original and innovative. No safety innovation. No performance innovation. No innovation in efficiency. No luxury innovation. The closest thing was the Sonata a generation ago that had very dynamic styling but even that was seen as derivative of the Mercedes CLS and they went to a conservative, boring design the next generation.

They need to build better performing engines while gaining better gas mileage. The turbo 6 in the G80 Sport and G90 doesn't perform better than the 4-cylinders in the E300 and 5 Series. And it gets worse gas mileage than the 8 cylinders in the S550 and 750i.

Genesis builds competent cars. No one can deny that. But that's all they are, competent and cost-effective alternatives to what many consider "real premium". That doesn't win anything. How will they stand out? That's what Genesis needs to figure out, first and foremost.

1. The KIA K900 should be the flagship Hyundai.
2. Tone-down styling for Sonata. Even-though the Elantra/Sonata designs are a good 1-2-punch.
3. Either make the Veloster a 4-door GT or get rid of it.
4. Get the KIA brand some sporty SUV's with a bit more performance.
5. Hyundai needs a large SUV as well. Do produce the the Telleride(?), add the Genesis SUV next, then the Hyundai last.

The Kia K900 should not be sold in the USA given the G90.

Although Hyundai & Kia own each other and share R&D, I don’t think they are sister companies like GM’s Chevy & Buick. So they will continue to overlap & compete with each other.

Which is asinine.

Hyundai should be mainstream cars, crossovers, pickups, and 4x4s. I'd advocate buying Ram and Jeep to achieve the latter.

Kia should be the "Subaru" brand. Subaru in the sense of crossovers that engender the fervor that the right people continue buying or the WRX which is revered. In essence what Alfa Romeo should have been i.e. a FWD/AWD turbo performance brand.

Genesis should be premium luxury, but not a Mercedes wannabe. Genesis would be cobranded with Kia.

@joneshamilton Fiat would not buy Hyundai-Kia because Fiat is starved for money to the point that product development is nil. If anything FCA is getting to a point where it only has two brands that bring in cash: Jeep and Ram. They will ditch Dodge, Chryselr, Jeep, and Ram to someone like Hyundai-Kia for big dollars and a platform sharing agreement. Hyundai-Kia's platforms would make excellent new Fiats, Maseratis, and Alfa Romeos.

@joneshamilton Let's assume that your idiotic assessment is true. Fiat's garbage is all more than a decade old and were slight updates of even older platforms. Thus, even with your bigoted assessment, Fiat would be better off.

THe fact is - it will take DECADES before GENESIS might be a successful brand. Infiniti and Acura have not had much luck at it either. Even Lexus is not really a purveyor of premium product - their big sellers - the RX and ES are Fancy Toyotas.

EVEN if Genesis does produce the absolute BEST car on the road - unquestioned - they will still produce too many of them to be premium. A real premium car has something that makes people WANT TO BE SEEN IN THEM. Today - nobody really wants to be seen in a Korean car. There was a time when the same could be said about Japanese cars too - and look - only about 75 years later - "SOME" have a reputation for quality - but not all of them either.

Genesis could be a much more successful brand sooner if they stopped pursuing Audi/Mercedes/BMW and zeroed in on the Lincoln/Cadillac crowd and attempted to beat Ford and GM to the punch in that segment.

Nobody really wants to be seen in a Cadillac or Lincoln today - they just do not project that image anymore as well. YES - they have the pedigree and could turn around the situation if FORD wanted to (They don't) - or if they had reasonable management at Cadillac (We'll see) - BUT No matter - Genesis does not compare to either - and will not as long as they are made in Korea.

@TomM once again, you're wrong. The Escalade and Navigator are very much "I want to be seen driving one." kind of vehicles. Moreover, if what you are saying is true--and it obviously isn't--Lincoln and Cadillac would have no sales. Both brands are purchased by people who can afford premium vehicles that could just as easily shop at Mercedes et. al., but they chose Lincoln or Cadillac.

It takes a long time to create a household name. Lexus is successful because the models it started are still around, ES/LS/RX. Acura had a few going but all gone now. Infiniti had a tree and a bunch of alphabets since. Genesis didn’t even had a tree...

They need a proven record of great cars, that takes decades. They also need innovation, pushing the proverbial envelope, setting the standards. Cannot get there just by copying what others do.

Although I am not a Tesla fan - the Model "S" is proof that you actually can produce something different and desirable enough to "Want to be seen in" - although their missteps with the Model 3 has tarnished that image.

If Genesis were to produce an EXTREMELY GORGEOUS STYLED car - and also introduced say the opposed piston engine into it - they could indeed make their mark and be a desirable car = BUT _ as long as they are making cars in the same manner as everyone else - they have NO chance at all.

They need to have their own Niche and stick to it...trying to chase the Germans is going to be a futile effort as shown by Infiniti and Cadillac (which were both established when they tried to chase the Germans). They need a full line of SUVS at this point, all should be on RWD or AWD platforms with a longitudinal engine to put them a step above Acura/Lexus/Cadillac in refinement. They need to beat all the established players in pricing and leases for the first couple generations while building their reputation/brand. They also need an dedicated dealer network, or they have to guarantee pick up/drop off service with a loner so customers don't have to step into a Hyundai dealership to service their vehicle.

A problem they have right now, is that they dont significantly undercut Lexus and even BMW on leases, and in many cases they are more expensive than Infiniti/Acura.

I think the suggestions are reasonable, just maybe not in the order listed. 1) SUVs 2) Independent dealers 3) Hybrid/Electric 4) Performance division 5) Halo car

quality quality quality quality quality.