Two Brand Track
Hyundai Motor, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, is moving into the global premium car market in earnest with a new luxury brand, Genesis. The company will consolidate its Equus premium large sedan with its existing large sedan models under the brand, and form a total of six models of the Genesis lineup by adding four new models by 2020. Then, it plans to go head to head with leading global luxury car makers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus and Audi. Accordingly, Hyundai Motor now has the first separate brand under the Hyundai umbrella, 48 years after the company was founded in 1967.
Hyundai Motor made an official announcement to enter the global high-end car market at its luxury Genesis brand launch event at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, on Nov. 4.
Chung Eui-sun, vice chairman of Hyundai Motor, said, “The Genesis, which was first released in 2009, has given us pride and confidence in our ability to produce global premium cars. The model is now born as a new brand with a ‘human-centered innovation’ strategy.”
The Genesis brand will start with two large and premium large sedan models, the existing second-generation Genesis model and the new Equus model, which will be launched next month. After that, it will add four other midsize luxury sedans, sports coupes, large sports utility vehicles, and midsize SUV models, completing the full lineup with a total of six models by 2020. The Genesis brand will adopt a new alphanumeric naming structure. Future models will be named by combining the letter ‘G’ for Genesis with a number representing the segment. For instance, the next model of the Equus, the large luxury sedan, will be named the “G90,” while the existing Genesis model, the large sedan, will be named the “G80,” and a midsize sedan to be released in 2017 the “G70.” With the launch, Hyundai will develop environmentally-friendly car models and add models of its high performance N brand lineups.
Hyundai Motor created a Prestige Design Division “G-Force” at Hyundai Motor Design Center in order to differentiate designs that directly show the identity of the Genesis brand. Also, the company hired world class auto designer Luc Donckerwolke, former design head at Lamborghini and Bentley, as chief design officer at the center.