Harbinger

Let me clarify... true "luxury vehicles" are still around, however there are admittedly very few players. The "near luxury" market is massive, and Hyundai does currently occupy this very well along with Acura and Infiniti. As they continue to develop this market, yes they will need to transition the lower tier vehicles over to KIA(Accent, Elantra, Velositer), but save for those 3 their current 2014 pricing is on par with a majority of the vehicles in the segment, considering their market position. With continued R&D and freshening of their product line-up, as well as positioning Kia to be the Honda to their Acura, Hyundai could be a leader in this segment. i do agree that they have a long way to go towards changing the consumer's idea of their brand, but they have already come a long way already. No, they didn't burst onto the scene with a game changing vehicle, but they are actively adapting and growing.

I strongly disagree with needing a new name to sell luxury or near luxury vehicles. BMW uses the same name for everything from the 1 series to the i8, Mercedes and Audi symbols grace everything from their entry level vehicles to their supercars. It isn't about redirection, but creating an overall brand image, and Hyundai is slowly doing so. Yes, even if Hyundai is one day selling a 100k vehicle, many will still consider them an off-brand or pseudo luxury marquee as they may never have "the big 3 badge" status, but they will be a legitimate alternative.

spwolf

no they dont.... i cant imagine anyone thinking Hyundai is near luxury as Acura and Infiniti. Except for you.

Their more expensive cars are not selling good... most of their sales in USA are for under 25k.
And their sales in USA went down in 2013, against market that rose. This means their strategy of introducing more expensive cars does not work.

Their international sales are mostly based on a lot cheaper cars... what you consider "near luxury" they dont sell in most markets, including Europe.

Here in Europe, their bread and butter are cheaper cars that they sell for significantly less than competition. Cheapest C class vehicle you can find in Eastern Europe is Hyundai. Cheapest small SUV is Hyundai... they barely sell anything above that.

Their success in China, Brazil and India is based on unique even cheaper models.

So no, Hyundai wont be transitioning to near luxury because they cant. Plus KIA is run independently of Hyundai.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

with the kia cadenza and now kia k900 they're developing both brands on the high end

chikoo

No. Not needed.

hlee12

hyundai has luxury products. but they don't have a luxury brand.

and this is good and bad. having luxury product will improve hyundai's image in a long run, but this means hyundai will be gun shy and just be happy with having luxury products.

i'm not in favor of having luxury products for too long. they have to take that next step. i would say they should go for it 4-5 years later.

mmarshall

In principle, I'd like to see Hyundai have an upmarket division. But, given the very low sales numbers for the Equus, I'm not sure that it would make much buisness sense.....the corporation would initially be spending a lot of money for a questionable return at best. Not only that, but the low sales numbers for the Equus are also at least partly due to Hyundai's ridiculous marketing practice of only offering the car is four exterior colors.....white, gray, black, and silver. That just isn't going to cut it in an upmarket car division.

hlee12

eh, colors have nothing to do with their sales figure. and those 4 colors are the most most popular colors. honestly that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard.

nobody buys equus because it's a $65k hyundai. lexus like launch is needed - great dealership, marketing blitz, better product, etc.

but it will cost billions. and they would have to up the price. instead of $65k hyundai it will be $80k whatever-the-name. so half-a$$ed attempt won't get it done.

mmarshall

Nope...with all due respect, you're simply wrong on that. Not everyone wants a car that looks like something in an old black-and-white photo taken 50 or 60 years ago.

I agree with you there. It's probably just too much money to risk on a questionable venture that probebly wouldn't give much of a return. And if people won't buy a dull-colored Equus at 60K, they probably won't at 80K either.

BTW, at the D.C. auto show yesterday, I got a quick look at Kia's answer to the Equus...the K900. It was up on the turntable, with only a couple of doors unlocked, I couldn't see it or examine it up close.....so I'll withold much further comment on it. But it will be interesting to see if, once-released, it outsells the Equus or not.

LexFather

Not sure why my post was deleted but this is completely wrong they are not considered success stories and their own executives state constantly their struggles and they are not on the same level as tier 1 luxury brands. Infiniti is a money losing brand for nissan and sales were again down last year how is that a success? Acura oddly might be considered more of the success but no luxury brand looks at their playbook as one to for success.

Only Lexus has done it. One out of three. That doesn't bode well for anyone to spin off a luxury brand. Mazda didn't try but planned one and Lincoln struggle. Caddy is turning things around.

Hyundai and Kia can be like Volkswagen, offering everything from 10k cars to 80k cars. Nothing wrong with that, there is a niche for that type of buyer they attract.

The Phaeton was no sales success but some people liked it and bought it and it coming back here. The Phaeton and Tourag are ways to elevate VW image especially in The USA.

Kia and Hyundai are attempting the same thing. I think all 3 brands have benefitted offering such cars.

hlee12

currently Equus has 5 colors. they added a dark brown.

here are other flagships

1, LS has 7. http://www.lexus.com/models/LS/colors/
2 colors LS have over equus - red & lighter brown.

2. S class has 10, but 10 of pretty much same dull colors
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicl...appearance=yes

3. a8 - 7 colors, but 4 basic tones
http://www.audiusa.com/models/audi-a...0NAPGjdFpHAAAA

4. 7 series - they have alot. but all in dull colors. 5 basic tones. no red, but they have blue variations
http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/conte...modelcode=147B


i fail to see having more colors increase sales figure. if it did, then major flagships should come in all different colors - yellow, green, purple, etc.
red in flagship never really sold well. you never see red a8s or 7 series. you never see yellow. there is why red, silver, black sells the most. because if is a bright color it could actually cheapen the product.

hyundai wants Equus to be stately. dull color makes sense for them. go look at S class again. all dull. they don't want any baby blue, light green, purple. none of that. they want black, silve, white. tradtional flagship color. if they sells more down the road, then they will probably add few more dull variations. maybe they should add 1 more color in any shades of blue, but again, it probably won't increase the sales number. having more color means they probably have to increase the production. they have hard time moving the car, so increasing the production doesn't make any sense.

hlee12

you pretty much nailed it. VW is what hyundai should go after if they aren't launch the luxury brand any time soon.

SW17LS

Bear in mind most luxury cars are bought in white, grey, black or silver. Just look around on the road. A sea of white, grey, black & silver.

hlee12

http://rules.config.jaguar.com/jdx/e...exterior.html@

jaguar XJ 15 choices. they aren't leading in sales.

SW17LS

And guess which luxury car colors have the highest resale? White, grey, black & silver. Thats what people want.

http://www.kbb.com/car-advice/articl...-color-to-buy/

So 50% of all cars sold are silver, white or black.

Luxury cars:

So the only color they don't offer with more than 6% popularity is a dark blue. They also offer a metallic brown, FWIW.

LexBob2

The number of color choices isn't going to make or break the Equus. If the sales volume increases I'm sure they'll offer more choices. In the meantime it seems like they are well represented.