Hyundai Motor’s premium brand Genesis is suffering from sluggish sales. The G70 sold 890 units in Korea in July, down 14% from the previous month. This is a drop from January to April, when the monthly sales of an average of 1,000 units were recorded.
Genesis’ G70 annual domestic sales target is 15,000 units per year. However, if the monthly sales is not at least 1,000 units per month from August to December, it will be difficult to achieve the target.
The sales of the G80 and EQ900 were also sluggish. The cumulative sales of the G80 for the first six month of this year totaled 22,565 units, down 6.9% from the previous year. In the same period, the EQ900 sold 5,646 units, down 27.1% from the previous year.
In August of last year, Hyundai Motor formed a unit exclusively for Genesis with a four-room, seven-team system and supported Genesis throughout the company, but it has not had any fun until now.
The sales in the U.S. were also sluggish. According to ‘The Drive’, Hyundai Motor’s sales in the U.S. last year, including the sales for the Genesis, stood at 51,752 units, down 4% from July of last year.
In particular, there were only 615 Genesis sold last month, down 63% from the previous year. The G80 sold 498 units and the G90 sold 117 units. Cumulative sales for this year also fell sharply; the G80 sold only 61,44 units (down 31%) and the G90 sold only 1733 units (down 33%)
Under such circumstances, Hyundai Motor plans to make massive product improvements to the Genesis in the second half of this year. The flagship (top model) EQ900 sedan will be partly changed, and the G80 and the G70 will have changes in their models.
However, it is uncertain whether Korean carmakers will be able to gain a competitive edge in the increasingly intensifying competition of imported car makers.
“The Genesis is a luxurious car, so competition with other luxurious imported cars is inevitable. However, there is a voice of fear that the position of the Genesis will become narrower as imported car makers offer drastic discounts for their imported cars,” said an official of a Korean carmaker company.
“The Genesis is struggling in America. However, the drop-in sales volumes in recent month has been attributed to decreased fleet sales. We expect sales to increase in August and September,” said an official of Hyundai Motor at an interview with ‘Sisa Journal-e’.
However, anticipation for the increase of sales for the Genesis is not anticipated even with the launch of the G70, analysts say. Furthermore, Hyundai Motor Group is suffering from quality controversy in the U.S. and is hurting their brand image.
Following a massive recall of cars earlier this year due to air bag problems, Hyundai-Kia Motors have lost confidence among American consumers due to the recent fire accidents.
“Just as Toyota’s Lexus took a long time to become a premium brand in the U.S., the Genesis will also unlikely show good results in a short period of time,” said Kim Young-jin (Business Administration professor at Sogang University) during an interview with ‘Sisa Journal-e’.
