Hyundai revealed Tuesday renderings of the first brand-new model to wear the Genesis nameplate as a marque. The new top-of-the-range Genesis will replace the Equus in the North American market next year, dropping its equine name for something more palatable to our tastes: alphanumerics.
On the other side of the Pacific, horse meat is a delicacy, so it should come as no surprise that the new Genesis G90 keeps its Equus lineage with the EQ900 model designation.
Hyundai announced their spin-off of the Genesis name into a luxury brand last week. Genesis will launch six new models before 2020, all with G## designations in North America.
“G90 is a blueprint for change and innovation that will distinguish the Genesis brand,” Hyundai said in a statement Tuesday. No details were revealed beyond “world-best safety features” and the like, though chances are we’ll know all about the new model before it’s officially launched in Korea next month.
The current Hyundai Genesis Sedan will be renamed G80. Another smaller sedan will debut in 2017 with the G70 moniker. Three other models, including a midsize crossover and larger SUV, will debut on or before the 2021 model year.
Hyundai stated all models will be either rear- or all-wheel drive.
Vehicle design is headed by former Bentley pen waver Luc Donckerwolke, working under group design boss Peter Schreyer.
As usual from large H/K sedan, not very original. Audi frontage, and a mixture of CT6 and S-Class at the back.
And H/K needs to work on better wheel designs. None of their production cars have any desirable wheel styles, and I can’t say that about other manufacturers.
I like some of the wheels on the Optima…
Except Hyundai started the hexagonal grill trend (which Audi and others followed) and the headlights are not at all like Audi’s.
The rear (which I don’t care for) is also reminiscent of the old XG and the Kia Amanti (yuck).
Also note how Mercedes’ headlights have increasingly gone towards the “stretched” form following the F800 Style concept – which Hyundai had done before, not to mention going more to an organic (“flame-surfacing”) details which Hyundai used in its “fluidic sculpture” design language (which was influenced by Bangle’s work with BMW).
“And H/K needs to work on better wheel designs. None of their production cars have any desirable wheel styles, and I can’t say that about other manufacturers.”
The wheels on the 2015 and later Genesis look fantastic. And as far as other manufacturers having crappy wheel designs, take a look at Honda. Only the Accord Sport and Touring look decent.
The next question will be where can you buy a Genesis branded car? Currently the Equus is offered through only selected Hyundai dealers that sell the Genesis sedan in enough quantity AND that have ponied up big money for the special tools, loaner cars, etc to service the Equus customers. Will the dealers have similar requirements to sell the Genesis brand, meaning that many dealers selling the current Genesis sedan will no longer carry it?
They’re gonna have to fit up showrooms with new nicer areas, like Lincoln usually does – and hope it works.
Do I see a bit of height again in the rear roofline? ’bout time. It looks quite nice.
On another note, about those rims..Black & Decker called. They want their saw blades back.
Maybe the thin centers of those spokes flex like the LRV’s steel mesh wheels to make up for the total absence of sidewalls.
Somebody’s got to try that gimmick in this tire hating era.
Hyundai’s current showroom design they have the dealers follow basically has a different colored tile square in one area of the showroom that the Genesis is supposed to sit on, but that’s it. Won’t work for a 6 model range.
The biggest problem is the dealer experience. Many Hyundai dealers turned into whore houses for credit challenged customers, and that salesman mindset is very hard to change within a dealership.
Tell me about it. Recently cross shopping and test driving mid-size cars for a family member. Sonata, Fusion, and 200. Tell the Hyundai dealer we’re going to buy around Christmas time and the three cars we’re looking at, and all he can do is yammer on about how much cheaper the Sonata is compared to the other two, but that I got to buy Now Now Now!!!); this was two months ago).
I get that midsize bland-mobiles aren’t supposed to get the heart pumping, but starting off you’re sales pitch and keeping it solely on cheapness isn’t doing the brand any favors.
This is an excellent point. Where I am, I guess 3 out of 4 dealers won’t be selling Genesis, and the one that will is a high volume awful place to be avoided. So how does that benefit Hyundai at all.
I’ll have to see one in the flesh before I decide to re-up from the ’14 Equus, but I think I like this.
I also want to see the Volvo S90 too.
Its handsome enough. I hope GM is paying attention. Luxury buyers who don’t want a BMW or Mercedes now have even more options.
Very much so Bentley inspired in the rear. So far so good, I’m looking forward to their lineup and more importantly, their 3 series competitor.
I’m guessing the smaller car will be along the lines of a Genesis coupe,just with 4 doors and some updates. Could be a great car.
Donckerwolke obviously performed majorly on this design, because the rear quarters look very similar to the Bentley Flying Spur.
As far as the name change, my understanding is that the rest of the world, including Europe, isn’t nearly so brand-conscious as we are. This is why Toyota is able to sell the Land Cruiser overseas with no problem, and doesn’t have to market it as a Lexus. So, is the “Genesis” brand just going to be a thing in the United States, or is it worldwide?
OH YEEBUS. I didn’t realize what they had done to the back in the restyle. It’s awful! Looks like an angry, lowered Enclave at the back.
http://zombdrive.com/images/2015-bentley-flying-spur-3.jpg
The old one was far superior!
http://automotorpad.com/uploads/posts/2014/6/bentley-continental-flying-spur-3.jpg
PS. The Flying Spur is ALL OVER in LA.
I never liked the Continental Flying Spur. And the Flying Spur just looks like a cheap Mulsanne.
I’m going to have to disagree with you; Europe is very brand conscious. It’s part of the reason Lexus and Infiniti are having a hard time there and why Cadillac is a non-entity.
I don’t think a Genesis brand would have a hard time in North America, but if they’re planning on setting up shop in Europe they better set their expectations low.
Indeed. You’re right. Europe is brand-conscious; it’s just that Europe’s brand-conscious state isn’t in whether the company calls itself a luxury brand. It’s about perceived value. To some extent, we’re like that, too.
I think it would be easier to sell a non-luxury-branded luxury car in Europe; that car would just need to come from a brand that is well-regarded, and more of a known quantity…like Volkswagen.
“The current Hyundai Genesis Sedan will be renamed G80. Another smaller sedan will debut in 2017 with the G70 moniker.”
Congrats, Infiniti!! There’s no going back now!
Johann was bragging about how Cadillac could price their vehicles alongside the BMWs & Mercedes of this world, when in reality, they can’t even keep up with Lexus or Audi, and the newly unveiled pricing of the upcoming CT6 (with a shared-across-all-GM-brands 2.0T as its standard motor) has him looking like an idiot now more than ever.
I honestly don’t think GMCadillac can compete with the new Genesis brand, and this will be especially (and painfully for them) true once Genesis starts releasing their CUVs.
Except, Cadillac sells way more sedans in the mid-price range (with the CTS and XTS) than does Audi or Lexus.
And oh, look – even with the similarly priced XTS in the same showroom, the CTS outsold the GS by nearly 300 last month.
If only Lincoln could put out such a car.
Nitpick, but horsemeat is a delicacy in French-speaking countries, not East Asia (I’ve had it plenty of times in Belgium and Switzerland but never seen it for sale in east or southeast Asia anywhere). It’s also quite good, sweeter and leaner than beef.
Yes, and horsemeat pies with puff pastry are available at Tescos and Sainsburys in the UK. You cannot keep a good horse down.
I wish Hyundai the very best of luck flogging the new range from showrooms containing salesmen equipped with almost zero product knowledge, skinny ties and the airs of a scab ticket seller outside a boxing venue.
Their only USP of this new range seems to be picking up your car for service and subsequently returning it. Man! Where do I sign? That’s gotta be worth thousands and thousands and thousands right there.
What is your disdain based on ? I’ve had the ’11 Equus and ’14 Equus, and before that the ’09 Genesis. Excellent cars all.
I agree on Hyundai needing to reign in some of the stereotypical aspects of their dealer network. Can a guy like Billy Fucillo in upstate New York really sell luxury cars?
In all likelihood, Hyundai will only award a portion of its dealerships the Genesis sub-brand (just as only about half of the Hyundai dealerships sell the Equus.
Apparently no one at Hyundai knew about, or remembered, a Broadway play of two or three decades ago, named Equus. And furthermore, many of the individuals in the US who might be in the upscale Hyundai demographic probably do.
The play was about a young man who was in love with a horse, and it also involved one of the two getting blinded. I think it was the that the horse was blinded by the man out of jealousy or something, but I don’t really care enough to look up the details.
But when Vance Packard could conclude that one of the reasons for the Edsel’s failure was that the through the bumper tail pipes, which caused brown deposits around the holes themselves, aroused subconscious or subliminal homosexual associations that the average consumer reacted negatively to, then one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a fifty-something car shopper, when the see a car named Equus is going to make the association with that highly-praised, but highly-controversial, play.
And even if a potential buyer had liked the play, they would almost certainly have done a quick mental calculus to figure that cocktail party chitchat might center around their driving an Equus, a car named the same as that play.
People also used to joke about what could be added to the Edsel’s grill to make it look more like something that men might like, but I will leave it to your imagination.
Suffice it to say that an association with anything sexual, especially if it is considered to be out of what much of society considers normal, is likely to be a non-starter in the showroom.
And people in the prime demographic were old enough when the play was in vogue, to have read and heard about it, and it was indeed very controversial at the time.
“Uh, an Equus? Maybe I’d be better off just getting an MKS, or whatever. I like that name better, for some reason.”
Those Lincoln names had little or no inherent association with anything in the average buyer’s mind, but as bad as that was for marketing, having a negative or controversial association can only be worse.
This is also reminiscent of another car naming blunder, though the Equus problem doesn’t arise out of a language difference.
But the Chevy Nova had problems in Latin America, because
“No va!” means “It doesn’t run” or ‘it doesn’t go”.
Still an easier thing to fix I think, than having people think of violent blinding associated with man-animal eroticism, which was widely seen as a metaphor for other fantasies the male lead might have been harboring.
Seen in that light, naming the car after a commercial pop band of a few decades ago doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. And at least they didn’t name it the Yes by Hyundai Motors instead. Nor did they name it the Exodus. But Equus should have been noticed and kicked off of the list of candidate names in the first phase of product design and marketing concept.
Apparently there is no truth to the rumor that the Equus will be renamed the Hyundai Gaegogi.
The numbering scheme is awfully reminiscent of the Infiniti and Volvo system. That’s a bit less egregious than the blatant copying of everything else, though.
I wonder what Kia will do with their K900…it hasn’t been selling that well. Does the new sub-brand mean the K900 will be axed? I have a soft spot for underdogs…
“The new top-of-the-range Genesis will replace the Equus in the North American market next year, dropping its equine name for something more palatable to our tastes: alphanumerics.”
Soo… somewhat odd or inappropriate name to dumb. Genius.