Hyundai's Genesis Brand Unveils the G90 Flagship

I will say it is a nice looking car, it looks massive in size and the interior is pretty sweet to boot. I do wonder how easy those floating rear screen will pop off.

you know...I just had a nasty though DFELT...

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away....(because Im still on a Star Wars kick)

Well, more accurate than that, not tooo long ago, people broke into other people's cars to steal GO PRO cameras or Garwin GPS sytstems or phones that were laying around, those screens, dont they just invite the uninvited to break your windows to pry off and steal those floating screens?

I think it's pretty good looking and the interior is succulent.

Pretty good competition against the CT6 actually. It won't have the light weight or dynamics but it has a really good looking interior, and it looks classy, and no more Hyundai badge. Must be luxury, right?

Plus this is the car that I would have wished Lincoln's flagship sedan would be in terms of product execution.

Not bad at all. It delivers a lot of luxury for a price that I think folks will really like. 

quite Faux.

Looks like the mob's version of the Ford Fusion.....

And all of a sudden the CT6 pricing scheme makes a lot more sense. Nip this thing in the bud over here.

I'm just... underwhelmed.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than this.

I'm just... underwhelmed.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than this.

Could you be underwhelmed due to them just coping the last generation S sedan from MB?

 

I'm just... underwhelmed.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than this.

Could you be underwhelmed due to them just coping the last generation S sedan from MB?

 

It doesn't even look like that to me....  it looks like the last Equus, with a Genesis front clip and an XTS C-Pillar. 

Makes sense, I honestly had no expectations so the car is nice as is, very traditional Korean conservative. Should do fine in the market for them, especially for the frugal people that want a luxury car.

Sort of a boring car, the interior looks pretty nice though.  The 3.8 V6 is underwhelming, but we may not get that engine here.  Turbo V6 and V8 are good engine choices, but that V8 could use a power bump, especially for a heavy car.  Overall I think it is nice, but not exciting, and why buy this over a more established luxury brand.  Not enough wow factor to steal sales.

Hyundai did not suddenly find the secret sauce to building a legit world class luxo car... The weight tells me that they basically have non-innovation wrapped in an AudiWannabe Wrapper.

I'm just... underwhelmed.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than this.

Reminds me a bit of a certain Kia last decade......

Would agree with that as well.....

Correction: It's no longer a Hyundai. 

Then again the pursuit of becoming luxurious, you'll notice that the guys at Rolls Royce and Bentley are in no hurry to lose weight, heck they want to add weight as much as possible.

This flagship is still superior to anything else out of the East. The LS is well past it's prime.

They're not going to sell it as some canyon-carver. Genesis built a car for people to sit in the back. Nothing wrong with trying to be salient to the demands of the buyers they want to court. 

What exactly is it lacking? If it drives like a floating brick then it's probably performing as atleast one kind of luxury absolutely exceptionally.

That is one good lookin' car!

Correction: It's no longer a Hyundai. 

 

Then again the pursuit of becoming luxurious, you'll notice that the guys at Rolls Royce and Bentley are in no hurry to lose weight, heck they want to add weight as much as possible.

 

This flagship is still superior to anything else out of the East. The LS is well past it's prime.

 

They're not going to sell it as some canyon-carver. Genesis built a car for people to sit in the back. Nothing wrong with trying to be salient to the demands of the buyers they want to court. 

 

What exactly is it lacking? If it drives like a floating brick then it's probably performing as atleast one kind of luxury absolutely exceptionally.

Well... it kinda is.  They have the "Hyundai Genesis" look on the nose, so until Genesis gets a new look, it is still going to carry a Hyundai prefix in people's minds.

Will this lose weight compared to the current K900 and Equus? That's kind of imperative. I'm glad Hyundai spun their RWD sedans off into their own brand. It needed to happen. My only problem with them now is that their current RWD vehicles are just SO FAR behind in ride and handling trade-off. They're essentially selling the 15 year old luxury car formula with modern electronics.

There's so much more to a Cadillac, a Mercedes Benz, an Audi, than just perceived luxury. The suspensions and powertrains are cutting edge. Korean luxury is matched by the bargain-priced Chrysler 300S and soundly beaten by a Chevy SS with magnetic ride control.

Yeah, on the interior alone this car is more compelling to anything from Detroit.

It's a luxury car, it has a luxury badge and it gets bespoke parts and engineering. I'd like to think driving dynamics matters for the large sedan buyer but can point to the S-Class and soft 7 Series and say for the majority it doesn't.

^ Yeah, we are the few that would buy a vehicle as large as an S-Class or 7 Series and care about the driving dynamics. I can't see many luxury buyers looking at steering feel and chassis stiffness on a test drive(of a car in the S, 7, A8 size). All the goodies on the inside...yup.

Will this lose weight compared to the current K900 and Equus? That's kind of imperative. I'm glad Hyundai spun their RWD sedans off into their own brand. It needed to happen. My only problem with them now is that their current RWD vehicles are just SO FAR behind in ride and handling trade-off. They're essentially selling the 15 year old luxury car formula with modern electronics.

 

There's so much more to a Cadillac, a Mercedes Benz, an Audi, than just perceived luxury. The suspensions and powertrains are cutting edge. Korean luxury is matched by the bargain-priced Chrysler 300S and soundly beaten by a Chevy SS with magnetic ride control.

But looking at the bigger picture, you know I just find it ridiculous that people already criticize this car for things Hyundai definitely says it's not meant for.

There's plenty of wealthy folk that are around the age of boomers, or are themselves that could find this car having a lot of merits.

 

Correction: It's no longer a Hyundai. 

 

Then again the pursuit of becoming luxurious, you'll notice that the guys at Rolls Royce and Bentley are in no hurry to lose weight, heck they want to add weight as much as possible.

 

This flagship is still superior to anything else out of the East. The LS is well past it's prime.

 

They're not going to sell it as some canyon-carver. Genesis built a car for people to sit in the back. Nothing wrong with trying to be salient to the demands of the buyers they want to court. 

 

What exactly is it lacking? If it drives like a floating brick then it's probably performing as atleast one kind of luxury absolutely exceptionally.

 

Well... it kinda is.  They have the "Hyundai Genesis" look on the nose, so until Genesis gets a new look, it is still going to carry a Hyundai prefix in people's minds.

 

Drew I'd have to soundly disagree. The same people that hounded Hyundai for selling a luxury car without a luxury badge are now going to be the same preposterous people who will now call it a Hyundai even when it isn't.

And what constitutes a luxury design? The guy who signs off on the design of this car used to design Audis. When you have tepid Corollas and Sentras with LEDs for lighting and pickups with the same cow-hide used in the big bucks sedans there isn't much wiggle room to pretend a product is genuinely luxurious because of the features and amenities it offers.

Does that mean every single Hyundai/Kia has a premium design? Well, it should since we know the same people that design luxury cars now design Hyundais. 

Oh I'm not saying that it isn't a luxury design, it very much is.

I'm saying that it looks too much like cars that are on the road today that are badged Hyundai.   There needed to be a bigger departure from the existing look, particularly in the grille.   

Had they debuted the Genesis brand when the current Genesis was released, I'd have no issue because it looked a lot different from the prior model. It would have been a nice clean break.  The way they did it, now there is this mushy area where some cars are Hyundai brand and some cars are Genesis brand yet they have the same look... and next year the cars that were Hyundai brand will be Genesis brand with a new model name but will look identical. It's pretty confusing to customers.

I think Hyundai will get there in time, but this car still looks like they took styling cues from other luxury cars (and the current Genesis) and didn't come up with anything unique.    Genesis brand needs to come up with some bolder styling or something that makes them stand out.  And I am not saying go for Pontiac Aztek level shock value, they need to have an elegant luxury look, but they can't disappear into the market.

Step two on the path to ascension is 100% all turbo line up.  That 3.8 liter V6 can be found in Hyundai's and Kias, if they make the 3.3 turbo v6 the base engine for Genesis brand, it creates some separation from the Hyundai cars.  And turbocharge the V8, there are turbo V6s of 400 horsepower now, a 420 hp V8 isn't all that special, especially not for a top engine, even if the turbo V8 was 460 hp, they'd have a better torque curve.

Well then I guess confusion has run amok in this industry, especially the domestic one that really changed names left or right.

These immediate confusions people can stipulate will subside pretty quickly.

Name changes always bring confusion. How is this in any way different? 

Why should Hyundai be singled out for making mistakes that somehow the indomitable home team gets to make because it's the home team.

By this notion the CT6 naming is a calamity for Cadillac because everyone will be confused as to why the lovely and familiar ATS, CTS and SRX names are hitting the dust-bin. Or Lincoln with their MK(insert frustration here) naming with the awesome heritage names.

They had to change the brand name and assure some semblance of exclusivity by launching the name as well as a separate floor space to showcase these products at dealers, with different sales staff.

This name change was inevitable, and the costs of having some confusion is nothing compared to continue being blasted by the popular media and customers themselves for not doing so.

To the people who say that this car looks like others...

let me put you in on a dirty secret that no one notices.

Henrik Fisker was behind the current Aston Martin look. 

The Fisker Karma grille is the same shape just with vertical slats and a separation in the middle.

This car looks like other cars because the people who made this car are the same people that set the basic look of the other cars.

If they can only iterate not innovate, why are you blaming the this brand exclusively? Certainly other brands can't do better, because they're just rehashing the same designs from the past, with nothing new in design for a long time.

The car looks the part. It's a luxury three box. It'll fulfill its mission just fine.

 

Will this lose weight compared to the current K900 and Equus? That's kind of imperative. I'm glad Hyundai spun their RWD sedans off into their own brand. It needed to happen. My only problem with them now is that their current RWD vehicles are just SO FAR behind in ride and handling trade-off. They're essentially selling the 15 year old luxury car formula with modern electronics.

 

There's so much more to a Cadillac, a Mercedes Benz, an Audi, than just perceived luxury. The suspensions and powertrains are cutting edge. Korean luxury is matched by the bargain-priced Chrysler 300S and soundly beaten by a Chevy SS with magnetic ride control.

 

But looking at the bigger picture, you know I just find it ridiculous that people already criticize this car for things Hyundai definitely says it's not meant for.

 

There's plenty of wealthy folk that are around the age of boomers, or are themselves that could find this car having a lot of merits.

 

I'm going to keep an open mind, but where you call Hyundai/Kia's luxury suspension "soft and comfortable", many would call it sloppy and outdated. You don't pay top dollar (or near it) for a car that lacks innovation. The press statement said they're developing it on the 'ring, so we'll see. I'd like them to bring back the R spec as well.

Actually the CT6 and XT5 names are a calamity in my book, so you'll get no argument from me there.

 

 

Will this lose weight compared to the current K900 and Equus? That's kind of imperative. I'm glad Hyundai spun their RWD sedans off into their own brand. It needed to happen. My only problem with them now is that their current RWD vehicles are just SO FAR behind in ride and handling trade-off. They're essentially selling the 15 year old luxury car formula with modern electronics.

 

There's so much more to a Cadillac, a Mercedes Benz, an Audi, than just perceived luxury. The suspensions and powertrains are cutting edge. Korean luxury is matched by the bargain-priced Chrysler 300S and soundly beaten by a Chevy SS with magnetic ride control.

 

But looking at the bigger picture, you know I just find it ridiculous that people already criticize this car for things Hyundai definitely says it's not meant for.

 

There's plenty of wealthy folk that are around the age of boomers, or are themselves that could find this car having a lot of merits.

 

 

I'm going to keep an open mind, but where you call Hyundai/Kia's luxury suspension "soft and comfortable", many would call it sloppy and outdated. You don't pay top dollar (or near it) for a car that lacks innovation. The press statement said they're developing it on the 'ring, so we'll see. I'd like them to bring back the R spec as well.

 

In comparison to what however?

Lacking innovation? The only innovation that the traditional luxury brands are doing is going downmarket. And Cadillac, Jaguar are few that are, but look at their dire circumstances when it comes to sedans that just can't sell when the market has shifted to utilities.

For the price you're paying, you're getting innovation worthy of the price.

You could pay double money for the 7 Series that isn't twice as good. You could pay almost three times as much for an S-Class that isn't three times as good.

And you could pay slightly more for an upcoming Cadillac that many people have said fails to innovate in terms of style and has an interior unbecoming for a flagship, even a placeholder.

And then you have Lincoln and Acura going through their tumbles.

Where are you getting real innovation? And at what cost?

And excuse me, but I know that very few publications have called the handling or ride of the Genesis clumsy - the same number of people that might call Cadillac and Jaguar rides as unduly harsh.  It might not be to the level of some makes, but with BMW becoming softer by the day, and Lincoln committed to quite luxury...

The ride/handling is suited to the customers they are targeting. To call it outdated and clumsy is giving a moniker that is hardly something those same customers could ever agree with.

Well we don't know how a G90 drives because no one has driven it yet.    All we can do now is judge by photos and the spec sheet.

The question is how will Hyundai make in roads to the luxury market and will they be abel to sell more G90 and G70 than they sold Equus and Genesis.  

When Lexus started they had industry best reliability and quality, their V8 had more power than most, they had a well executed car, and it was much cheaper than a Mercedes.  That got them noticed and let them get traction.  This at a time in the early 90s when Acura, Infiniti and Audi were low volume and Lincoln and Cadillac were resting on laurels and not building the best product in the world.  It was easy for Lexus to move in an capitalize.  I don't think Genesis has a better car than Lexus or the Germans, so what's the hook they use to overtake those brands?

Well we don't know how a G90 drives because no one has driven it yet.    All we can do now is judge by photos and the spec sheet.

 

The question is how will Hyundai make in roads to the luxury market and will they be abel to sell more G90 and G70 than they sold Equus and Genesis.  

 

When Lexus started they had industry best reliability and quality, their V8 had more power than most, they had a well executed car, and it was much cheaper than a Mercedes.  That got them noticed and let them get traction.  This at a time in the early 90s when Acura, Infiniti and Audi were low volume and Lincoln and Cadillac were resting on laurels and not building the best product in the world.  It was easy for Lexus to move in an capitalize.  I don't think Genesis has a better car than Lexus or the Germans, so what's the hook they use to overtake those brands?

Genesis is by no stretch of the imagine going to overtake anyone even with this.

They'll be happy just to get maybe a 100% increase in sales. Which is not a lot at all. Maybe a couple hundred sales per month. 

There's no hook.

But this car is far better than any attempt by many brands that claim they are prestigious, and yet we're led to believe they're shattering what it means to be luxury. But this goes without saying - this is a thoroughly modern car. It's going to have plenty of cow-hide and wood inlays as well as the latest infotainment.

If it's better than a Lexus LS, than that's one victory they could surely take and work with.

You know what my take is in all this?

You got to start somewhere.

And you take it from there. Improving and tweaking and keeping things that work and ditching things that dont.

I aint worried about Hyundai's ability to establish a "look".

Sure, some designs they put out seem to "borrow" from other makes...but as Suave has pointed out, designers from other makes have joined the Hyundai team...

And...dont forget, Hyundai has also set design trends too along the way the last 5 years....

Plus...Hyundai has also had a successful way of putting content in a vehicle and peddling it...

Yeah, I know...both are Hyundai brand strategies and not Genesis...

Like I said,

You got to start somewhere...

Hyundai are at least taking the segment seriously enough to drive the rear wheels and offer eight cylinders. Credit where it is due.

I'm not offended by the look, but it's not eye-popping either. The suspension tuning tends to be softer for South Korea for some reason, so they will probably need to address that for over here.

Hyundai are at least taking the segment seriously enough to drive the rear wheels and offer eight cylinders. Credit where it is due.

I'm not offended by the look, but it's not eye-popping either. The suspension tuning tends to be softer for South Korea for some reason, so they will probably need to address that for over here.

And that's what matters. They never had a chance of success here when they debuted the first Genesis, and yet here they are with a plan for 6 models in total, and they're going to continue to build these in spite of criticism.  

Genesis will build luxury quietly without trying to raise a fuss about what anyone else thinks of them. That's the way to push forward. 

It'll be interesting to watch, but it's not a slam-dunk. The Infiniti Q45 was a good car too.

Seems that you can save some money and get a freakin nice Limo if you want in the G90.

Seems Hyundai is moving in on offering a lower priced, better built Maybach. They do have a Build & Price  tool on the web site below.

https://www.genesis.com/kr/en/genesis.html

G90 Limousine Prestige - 216 inches, a foot longer than the Mercedes-Maybach S. Standard 5L V8 with 8 speed automatic transmission.  Fully loaded your still at $151,022.12 US dollars.

According to current pricing released, qouted from the story:  the Limousine Prestige starts at $138,941 (USD) — substantially less than the $169,600 entry point for a Maybach S560.

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/02/genesis-stretches-luxury-dollars-with-g90-limousine/

I honestly have to say these have a presence that I like!

Additional write ups on the new Limo options:

https://www.carscoops.com/2019/02/koreas-2020-genesis-g90-limousine-proper-gangnam-style/

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/2019-genesis-g90-limousine-debuts-in-south-korea-132538.html

That is an incredibly sharp car. 

5 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

That is an incredibly sharp car. 

Agree, I have to say they really nailed the look of a large luxury car that I can fit in and would enjoy having.

12 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Agree, I have to say they really nailed the look of a large luxury car that I can fit in and would enjoy having.

I don't know, doesn't look like it has enough rear legroom for you...;)

Sold, looks like it will fit our rear-facing car seat no problem

47 minutes ago, dfelt said:

better built Maybach.

What kind of claim is this? How did you come to this conclusion? 

44 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

What kind of claim is this? How did you come to this conclusion? 

My own seeing of Genesis cars and inquiring at the parts counter to see cost of parts, service counter for cost of service and warranty. 

I can get one of these Luxury Cars cheaper with better warranty and way lower cost of ownership than MB charges for their S-Class. 

Going back and forth between the cars at the Seattle auto show, fit n finish is amazing on the Genesis. There are areas that at least right now Koreans are focusing on the littlest detail over what i see physically on the S-Class.

So YES, This is My own assessment based on looking at the G90 and S-Class at the autoshow and comparing service costs, parts costs and online repair info. Seems Genesis did their homework on building a better mouse trap for the rich.

46 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

What kind of claim is this? How did you come to this conclusion? 

Maybe more reliable...the Korean products tend to be more simpler and more reliable than the infinitely complex Germans. 

10 minutes ago, dfelt said:

My own seeing of Genesis cars and inquiring at the parts counter to see cost of parts, service counter for cost of service and warranty. 

I can get one of these Luxury Cars cheaper with better warranty and way lower cost of ownership than MB charges for their S-Class. 

Going back and forth between the cars at the Seattle auto show, fit n finish is amazing on the Genesis. There are areas that at least right now Koreans are focusing on the littlest detail over what i see physically on the S-Class.

So YES, This is My own assessment based on looking at the G90 and S-Class at the autoshow and comparing service costs, parts costs and online repair info. Seems Genesis did their homework on building a better mouse trap for the rich.

The G90 is not S-Class level.  This G90 Limo is not being sold in the US, so no, you can't buy one instead of an S-Class or Maybach