Type Division Headquarters Seoul, South Korea Owner Hyundai Motor Group Motto Luxury Evolved | Industry Automotive Products Luxury vehicles Founded 4 November 2015 Parent organization Hyundai Motor Company | |
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Predecessor Hyundai Equus (G90)
Hyundai Genesis (G80) Profiles | ||
Genesis Motors is the luxury vehicle division of the South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company. Initially envisioned along with the plan for Hyundai's new luxury sedan Hyundai Genesis in 2004, the Genesis brand was officially announced as a standalone marque on 4 November 2015.
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Manfred Fitzgerald, former director of brand and design at Lamborghini, is senior vice president. Luc Donckerwolke, former design director of Volkswagen Group's Bentley, Lamborghini and Audi, leads the design brand since early 2016, and works alongside Hyundai-Kia's chief designer Peter Schreyer. Albert Biermann, former head of BMW's M performance division, oversees tuning and performance.
History
Hyundai introduced "Concept Genesis" in March 2007 as a "progressive interpretation of the modern rear-wheel drive sports sedan". The idea for the Genesis was conceived in 2003. The body design took three years and the total cost of the program was $500 million over a development period of 23 months. Reliability testing ran for 800,000 miles. Hyundai introduced the Hyundai Genesis in 2008 at the North American International Auto Show.
Chris Hosford, Hyundai's US spokesperson, cited three main reasons for making Genesis a stand-alone brand: A successful seven-year occupation in the luxury car market; the Genesis sedan ranking in the top three sellers in its segment; and customer demand for the Genesis brand.
Genesis announced the launch of its first model, the G90 (EQ900 in Korea), on 9 December 2015. The G90 will also serve as the brand's flagship model. Genesis launched in the U.S. in late 2016, with the sale of the G80 and G90 models. The initial dealers are a subset of existing Hyundai dealers, with designated space for Genesis within the dealerships' showrooms.
Future plans
By 2020, a luxury sedan, a sports coupe, and two SUVs are also expected to be introduced; this would bring the number of Genesis models to six. An alphanumeric naming convention will be followed for the brand; models will be named by combining the letter G with a number (70, 80, 90, etc.). Genesis is initially being marketed in Korea, China, the Middle East and the United States, followed by Europe and rest of Asia.
Marketing
Genesis Connected Services, a cloud-based service, includes features remote vehicle functions such as Remote Start with Climate Control and Remote Lock/Unlock is available on iOS, Android and an Alexa Skill developed with Amazon.
Genesis Intelligent Assistant was developed for Android and iOS, providing similar service to Genesis Connected Services.