The issue is the retailer experience is very important for a luxury vehicle. Having just bought a Mercedes, the dealer experience there was truly excellent. Part of Lexus' rollout was not just a great product in the LS400, but truly world class dealers and service too. IMO you can't have success without both parts. There are a lot of luxury buyers who will walk into a Hyundai dealer, have that experience and walk into Lexus and have their experience which is much better and that will be a big part of their decision making process. People buy luxury items based on how the purchase makes them feel. Without Lexus dealers, the LS400 would never have been successful. Its part and parcel. Those people who traded their BMWs and Mercedes and Cadillacs and Lincolns would not have walked into a Toyota dealer to give the LS400 a chance.

The other purpose is to put the brand and the product in front of buyers. To introduce it to them. Tesla doesn't have "dealers" but they nail the retail experience. They have slots in malls and cars out in the world for people to examine, etc. The point is to get the product in front of the eyes of buyers. They need to walk by it 60 times and then they will start to engage with the brand. No dealers, no signage, so shiny cars in a beautiful showroom, no mall slots, no way to interact with the brand and the product equals no success.

Having excellent Genesis models in the back of a Hyundai dealer where the staff doesn't even know what they are is just absurd. Its patently ridiculous for Genesis to be trying to market and sell their excellent product this way.

Lets put it this way, I'm an experienced luxury car owner. I use independent mechanics because I'm no longer impressed enough with their service to warrant spending the money for it. However, my experience at Mercedes was so good, I will probably pay to have my S560 serviced there. Walking into a Hyundai dealer is a HUGE downgrade for me, its really a culture shock and if I'm somebody who doesn't really know or care why the product is so good, I'm not going to go to that legnth to do that. Its like someone accustomed to shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue going to WalMart because theres a shoe company that really makes great shoes that are cheaper and even better than Allen Edmonds and they sell them at WalMart. People who pay $500 for shoes aren't going to do that. But, can that shoe company create their own stores that offer a premium experience that is more like what that consumer is used to? Sure...and those customers just might try that out.

 

You are 100% right on the dealer experience. They go hand in hand together and these brands spend millions of dollars getting the feel and design right. This is why all the brands look different...a luxury car dealer should be custom specific to the buyer....I know most luxury brands will never approach the buyer until the host has greeted them.....the salesperson will not eyeball you either if you just want to browse....finally, if you want to be treated with a "snooty" attitude, a good salesperson at a good dealer will immediately recognize that in contrast if you want a mellow experience, the a good salesperson should be able to provide that as well.

When my younger sister was going through her divorce....she was on a crazy mission to be treated like a queen....she bought all kinds of luxury good and when she bought her Lexus...she wanted them to treat her with some snooty attitude....she got what she wanted and I remember her saying..."they are kinda arrogant at Lexus"...then she said "I kinda like that"....when she got remarried she went to BMW to lease a 3 series..she mellowed out at that point...so they treated her with more calm and easygoing.


Genesis will not succeed in the luxury realm without dealers...without those top sales professionals that get the experience right....the branding image also has to the right too... Product excellence is not enough

 

So hows that going so far? The performance metric incentivization is the topic of a suit brought on Hyundai/Genesis by a Florida dealer group as I mentioned. The issue however is a stalemate for either party.

Finally there has not been enough market sales data to demonstrate long term sustained demand (TBD) for GV80 (and lets not count pre-orders), nor has it been enough to demonstrate that somehow Genesis is done from the market. I`d revisit the topic in a year or so.

 

for SOME buyers, not all. i couldn't care less what the retailer experience is and i expect it to be awful.

and service is a completely separate side of a dealer. i've definitely experience crap sales and great service at most dealers.

again, some, not all. and what lexus did 30 years ago is not likely to ever be repeated again. genesis certainly whiffed their u.s. rollout with franchise and dealer agreement issues, and i agree that if they don't better segment and improve it, it will hinder those who want the 'red carpet' treatment.

no, you lease, as a business expense. nothing wrong with that, of course tons of people do. i leased too, because it would give me 3 years trouble free use of a wonderful car. that's coming to a close. no regrets.

mixing things up there... when i went to see a G90, it was right up front in the showroom. they drove it out of the showroom to let me test drive it. they bent over backwards to make me feel special, not that i cared.

but about mixing things up, again sales and service are separate and i've never set foot in the dealer for service because a very polite and professional drives a loaner to me, takes my car, and reverse happens later in the day. very very nice.

dealerships are the shining albatrosses of the 21st century. they will continue to exist for those who are easily impressed by shiny surfaces, nice lighting, granite, marble, glass, steel, etc.

tesla in particular has proven they are irrelevant to a lot of buyers and remember teslas are not cheap cars.

 

I went and looked at a Palisade over the weekend and they had a completely decked out and fully loaded GV80 on the lot in an absolutely stunning color. I have to say this car looks good in photos, but it looks REALLY good in person. This would be the color I'd get if I were shopping. The proportions are great, the styling looks very upscale and it has a really great presence to it. The sales guy was the sole Genesis "certified" expert at the dealership and mentioned this one was $79k and was top of the line in every respect. An interesting tidbit he mentioned was the only other crossover that is similar in size and options to this particular one at $79K is the Bentley at roughly $180k. He cited Car & Driver's "comparison checklist" as his source. He offered to show me the interior but I was in a rush and the keys weren't on him. The way it works at this dealership is you have to put down a $5k deposit to "reserve" the car - you get to choose how it's optioned, interior/exterior color, etc. Once it arrives at the dealership, you can come and test drive it - if you pass on it, you get your $5k back. While the car is there, no one else can test drive it until the $5k reserve is lifted and a new $5k deposit is put down. So basically if you want to test drive one, you have to put down $5k. Weird IMO as it really limits the number of people who can test drive them. Maybe supply is so limited right now it's the only way they can do it..??

 

Most buyers. Remember I'm a professional salesperson, I have had lots of training and have done lots of research and have lots of experience in selling at different levels, low end, mid range, high end. For the majority of buyers this is accurate. When you design a selling system you design it for the majority of buyers, not the exception. We here at CL are not most buyers. I am 100% confident that Genesis is going to have to have to have an excellent retail presence and experience if they truly want to play with the big boys.

You as a buyer are super cynical about car dealerships, and you actively seek out experiences that are not the norm. Most buyers aren't like that, and like I said they have to appeal to the majority not the minority. Even to those like you who hate car dealers, putting customers in a HYUNDAI dealer isnt the solution to that, those salespeople are even less trained and are higher pressure and don't understand high end consumers. If they really want to get away from that they need to do what Tesla did.

Most, not all. I stand by what I said, without Lexus dealers the LS400 would never have been the success that it was. Its not about "red carpet treatment" its about access to the product in an atmosphere that jibes with its characteristics. You would have sold some LS400s, but the LS would not have had the huge impact on the industry it did without their excellent dealers.

I have also owned luxury cars. Whats the difference? There isn't one. I am very experienced as a customer of luxury car companies and dealerships. At the age of 39 I have bought 8 new luxury cars.

That has not been my experience going to any combination Hyundai/Genesis dealers. I have never seen a Genesis on the showroom floor, not one time, and I have had to deal with Hyundai salespeople alongside an Elantra and sit in a plastic chair under banners advertising "we always say yes to your credit". Not a luxury experience at all. That would not stop me from getting a Genesis, but to someone who doesn't understand the benefit for the tradeoff, or care, it absolutely will.

Many Hyundai dealers have suspended their concierge service because of COVID, forcing buyers to actually go to the Hyundai dealer. I believe Car & Driver or somebody wrote an article about it. Anyways, I don't want my car picked up and delivered, I'd rather take it to the dealer myself, its more convenient for me. Most luxury car dealers offer that service also to customers who want it. My Lexus dealer has always offered it, so does Mercedes.

It doesn't HAVE to be a traditional dealership, but they need something that isnt a Hyundai dealership with a sign. That model is ripe for change like you said. Look at Tesla, they are doing it without traditional dealerships and nailing it. They have great service centers too.

If we had mall slots of test drive centers for Genesis like they do with Tesla I wouldnt be as concerned for them.

 

That is a nice color.

Genesis is not going to sell many crossovers this way


I think the dealer is just trying to get max $$$ for the car.


How on Earth can Hyundai corp be so dumb not to have dealers who sell theirs cars offer a demo vehicle?

 

That dealership is marking it up. It's supposed to be $74K fully loaded, not $79K.

 

Could ask that about Toyota and the RAV4 Prime. It happens with high demand vehicles.

 

RAV4 Prime is a different situation.

 

Care to explain the difference?

 

Toyota doesn’t have a problem with the existence of dealers....and the Toyota is not trying to get the Toyota “brand” off the ground....

Rav4 Prime is in extremely limited....Toyota makes this know on their website and at the dealer level.

 

$15K over MSRP

 

It is very telling that independent dealers are hesitant to shell out millions of $$ up front for capital upgrades. It tells me more about not wanting to put themselves in debt than it does about their confidence in the brand.

 

When you are selling every vehicle coming onto the dealer's lot almost immediately. Why keep one as a "tester" have have its value plummet if you don't have to? If this hurt sales, dealers wouldn't do it.