Toys4RJill

Despite Hyundai’s spinning off Genesis into its own luxury brand and attacking the U.S. market with a selection of models, the original Genesis sedan, known as the G80 in the states, has been killed off in the UK due to dismal sales.

Autocar reports that since 2015, a mere 50 examples of the luxury Hyundai Genesis sedan have been sold in Britain, despite the South Korean company’s attempts to pitch the sedan as a legitimate rival to the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Discussing the decision to cull the Genesis, Hyundai UK managing director Tony Whitehorn said such a car and its 3.8-liter V6 simply isn’t in demanded in Europe or the UK.

“The Genesis was never built for the European market, it was conceived for the Korean and American markets. It shows a saloon car with a 3.8-litre engine is not really what is demanded in Europe, and in particular in the UK.

“We brought it in as much just to sample it: lots of people told us they’d driven a Genesis in America and liked it. It was also available in Australia and had done well there, so it was engineered in right-hand-drive. So we thought fine, let’s trial it and see how it goes,” Whitehorn said.

At this stage, it isn’t known when Hyundai may decide to relaunch the Genesis brand in the UK but current thoughts suggest it might be several years away, longer than initially expected. If it happens, the upcoming Genesis SUV would likely be the first model sold.

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/07/hyu...n-britain.html

mmarshall

Possibly a little off-topic, Jill, but how do you feel about the brand? Would you invest in one, if it were your money? You've made at least several comments about the brand, but I don't recall your overall opinion. I think highly enough of the G80, of course, that it was in the Top 5 contender's list on what my next car was going to be....in fact, it ended up being #2.

Toys4RJill

The Genesis G80 is a nice car. The interior is. Erythromycin nice and I like the touchscreen and redundant button set up. Not sure if I would get one of the money was the same as a Lexus. Would love to see a small compact luxury car from one of the these manufacturers. Something Verano size maybe a Cadillac or Lexus. But no hybrid. Who knows. Maybe Genesis will make one.

I dunno if Genesis is going to succeed. But perhaps it might. Although the car market is shrinking and they are trying to gain a piece of the market share.

yardie876

Only 50? That is beyond abysmal. It saddens me though, as Genesis has some great cars. Hope this isn't an omen for its reception in other markets.

SW17LS

Its because they don't offer engine setups that appeal in the UK. No small 4cyl, no diesels.

LexBob2

Yep. I'm sure that Genesis management understood the risks involved in the UK market.

Mr Bond

All asian brands sell pretty well here in Europe, as long as they are in the medium- low price range. Its very hard for any "new" premium market attempt here. There is simply too many premium brands here already and things like tradition, heritage and origin is at least 50% of the reason to buy a specific brand (luxury brands ).

But I would say that the asian brands themself are to blame for this, they have always brought us the most simple and characterless models through the years. Cars with 1,0-1,6 liter engines without any attempt to be more than just "super standard" in every aspect, many times without basic stuff like aircondition. Thats why many asian brands are eternally condemned as non luxury options here.

mmarshall

Yes, that's part of it. Britons, unlike us, have to deal with special taxes on engine displacement, output, and amount of emissions.

SW17LS

It's not just part of it, it's most of it.

Vladi

In Germany it has already been discontinued this year but it will make a come back with proper market relevant engines, one diesel included.

You can get grab a year old Genesis in Germany for a friction of the MSRP, its a steal! That's some US pricing right in the European mid-land. Take a look at it yourself.

Toys4RJill

I wonder how Hyundai is doing in the UK and the rest of Europe. I have always said that the Genesis brand will only succeed if the Hyundai brand is very strong and selling well.

Toys4RJill

Perhaps they are doing the factory direct idea and have no models on the lot to actually shop and buy

chromedome

No diesel, no sales, as far as Europe is concerned. And this is post-VW dieselgate. Benz and BMW sell huge numbers of diesel E's and 5's and even the 7 series gets a top of the line diesel variant. Lexus still remains a niche player in Europe because it offers petrol hybrids instead of diesel, although hybrid sales are slowly picking up.

Aron9000

That's one thing I'd say where Asian brands really have succeeded in the US. Even back in the dark ages of the late 70's/early 80's, Toyota and Nissan were selling premium cars(the Cressida, Celica Supra, 280ZX, Maxima) By the end of the decade, well you were spoiled for choice if you wanted something nice and Japanese.

Big Andy

This was always going to be a hard sell. Hyundais and KIAs sell well but they are seen as competitors to the likes of Ford and Toyota. There just isn't the market for a fairly anonymous looking Hyundai for over £50k - particularly if the target market get out of big diesels with mountains of torque and good fuel economy and get into a fairly wimpy 3.8 litre petrol - they're going to be disappointed. Add in horrendous depreciation of circa 50% for the first year you'd have to be mad to put your money into one. Looking on Autotrader there are currently 4 for sale secondhand in the whole of the UK - you can pick up a 17 plate one with under 2k miles 40% under list price. Even with a competitive diesel engine I could only really see them appealing to taxi drivers when they are 3 or 4 years old.