AL13NV8D3R

The Korean car manufactuers are complete idiots especially when they saw first hand how Toyota and Nissan created a sub luxury brand and are now thriving. If Lexus and Infiniti never existed then i could see why the Koreans would not even bother creating a sub brand.

For those who say they only have two Luxury cars so why take on an expense to create a sub brand.... well when Lexus started out they only had TWO cars, the LS400 and ES250 and look at them now. When they first launch they had a dealer network that was not very large either and now there is at least one Lexus dealer in every large city and metropolis. Hyundai really needs to take there luxury cars seriously if they want us consumers to take there cars seriously too. Until then my money will only go to Lexus, Infiniti, Bmw and Mercedes Benz.

dseag2

I don't disagree with you at all, but the Infiniti business model is hardly one to emulate. Lexus has carved its niche in the luxury market. Infiniti, not so much (and we own one).

bclexus

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Kia K900 for comparison purposes.

AL13NV8D3R

Agreed that Lexus is at least two levels above Infiniti but i used Infiniti as an example of Mainstream auto manufacturer building a Sub Luxury brand. Infiniti is not as reliable or dynamic as Lexus but they are sucessful enough to stay in business. Where i live i see more people drive Infinitis than Lexus.

kmm

Naming a car after a dog is an unfortunate mistake on Kia's part.

Kerry
San Diego

Afrosheen

LOL, that's all I can think of when I see that badge. K-9 = canine. And KIA is like a slap in the face to veterans, KIA = Killed In Action. The Korean manufacturers don't get marketing and branding, at least not in the US.

They desperately need to come up with sub-brands if they want to play in the higher brackets, like entry level luxury or even mid-level. I think the Genesis, with its different logo, was a weak attempt at this, but they need to take it about 5 steps further. Even splitting a dealership in half with the luxury sub-brand inside (like GM does with Cadillac) would be a big help. But they really need a good, global brand to truly compete, with a matching dealership experience.

SW17LS

The K900 also looks like a great car, BUT...the Kia branding, badging, and styling cues turn me off. Hyundai at least tries to distance the Genesis and Equus from the rest of the line, they don't do that with the K900.

dchar

Because they are trying to make Kia the "luxury" brand and keep Hyundai as the mainstream brand, with a few "sub-luxury" (I.e., Acura and Volvo and Buick) models.
Probably isn't going to work out too well for them. I barely see any Equus or K900 anywhere. The Koreans aren't even buying them. They want the status and bragging rights of owning a "real" luxury car (I.e., MB, BMW, Lexus, Audi)

SW17LS

Which is just dumb. If anything...the Hyundai brand is further along in terms of brand perception and quality perception than Kia.

ItzFilyO

Kia should be their cheap brand like Toyota and Hyundai should be their luxury brand like Lexus. Can't be combining like that and selling cheap to expensive cars, we all see them as cheap economical cars.

Oh and they do really need to work on their emblem designs. Nice looking cars with crappy emblems like that is not good.