Genesis luxury cars coming April

Can Korea legitimately take on Germany in the prestige car segment with its Genesis challenger brand?

We'll know soon enough, with company executives earmarking April or May 2018 as the launch date for the newest luxury car brand in Australia.

Hyundai appears to have landed an uppercut or two on the chins of a couple of European brands in the hot hatch segment with the i30 N and now it's taking aim at the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi with the Genesis luxury brand.

"We're hopeful in the next month or so we might get a final agreement and move forward with launching the G80 and G70," said Hyundai's chief operating officer, Scott Grant.

Hyundai Australia's PR chief Bill Thomas told motoring.com.au: "Nothing's definite in this game but it's very likely to be a second-quarter launch for the Genesis brand, around April-May."

The Australian operation will kick off proceedings with two rear-wheel drive sedans, the mid-size G70 and large G80, which was previously sold here as the Hyundai Genesis. These will be followed by a premium SUV in a few years, one of two SUVs planned to arrive before 2020.

Hyundai is confident it has what it takes to become a genuine contender in the luxury car segment and although company execs are refusing to make sales predictions, the Korean importer insists it won't go the same way as Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti – into relative obscurity.

After more than five years in the market, Infiniti's annual sales in 2017 totalled just 776 -- almost four per cent less than in 2016. Meantime Lexus sales for the same period came in at 8800 (down 2.5%), while Mercedes-Benz Cars topped 37,000 sales (up 3.1%), beating out BMW (23,619 -- down 15.7%) and Audi (22,011 -- down 9.3%).

"We've studied the Australian market. We've looked at Infiniti and Lexus with some degree of focus and more broadly looked at the BMW and Mercedes positioning over time," said the Hyundai COO.

"But globally we've looked at Ferrari and Lamborghini models and how they operate. What we're trying to achieve on a global basis is a little bit different," said Grant, adding that the idea is to offer one less vehicle than what the market demands.

Genesis must effectively communicate its customer experience, which motoring.com.au understands to be quite different to what rivals offer, with distinctive warranty and servicing programs. Expect other surprises when details emerge, too.

The company claims it hasn't settled on a retail model yet – whether it sells Genesis cars via standalone dealerships or within existing Hyundai showrooms. Or possibly even online.

"Whether that's done through a dealer channel or a non-traditional channel is just one of many questions that need to be determined," said Grant.

Although there are still key details to be finalised, it's clear there's a lot of excitement around the giant Korean corporation's new luxury car pitch, but at the end of the day the cars will to do the talking.

The Genesis G80 will be a facelifted version of the Hyundai Genesis that's been on sale in Australia for more than two years now. It will rival vehicles like the BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

It will be powered by a 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated V6 engine, generating 232kW and 397Nm. This car is also offered with a V8 engine and twin-turbo V6 overseas, but they won't be offered locally.

The second vehicle on sale in Australia from launch, which has the greatest sales potential, is the Genesis G70.

Similar in size to a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series but likely to be priced lower – think $50,000 – while offering more equipment, the top-spec G70 is powered by a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 pumping out around 270kW.

Like the closely related Kia Stinger, the rapid mid-size rear-drive sedan will also be offered with a more affordable, less powerful 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, which Thomas says may find a sweet-spot in the market.

"The V6 may not be the dominant model," said Thomas.

"We expect the mix of 2.0-litre turbo [G70s] to be quite high. If you look at the Mercedes C-Class, they sell a lot of four-cylinder models. It might be similar for us.

"In terms of the way the G70 lines up against C-Class, A4 and 3 Series, it's very competitive for space, and there's a great interior atmosphere about the car. That's personal opinion but it'll priced competitively and well equipped," stated Thomas.

"The performance aspect of the rear-drive twin-turbo V6 will be pretty appealing for a lot of potential customers as well," he said.

Genesis also has a larger G90 model to compete with limousines like the Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but Thomas said an SUV was more likely the next Genesis model for Australia, as previewed by the Genesis GV80 concept at the 2017 New York motor show.

"It's a bit early to talk about future models. We're looking at SUVs, possibly the G90 but most likely the next model is going to be an SUV.

"We expect a Genesis SUV to be exceptionally well-equipped for the money. With the design teams we've got globally, we can expect the thing will look right. I guess the SUV is the one we're really looking out for," explained the Hyundai executive.

All Genesis cars sold locally will be given a suspension tune tailored for Australia roads and conditions, and a five-year warranty is all but certain.

The company is keen to get its new models into the marketplace to see how buyers respond, but on top of the Infiniti effect, Genesis will also have to overcome the public perception that Korean cars are still rubbish.

Australian customers still have lingering concerns over Korean cars, borne from the company's cheap and cheerful beginnings when cars like the Hyundai Excel were everywhere. But Thomas reckons that the Genesis brand will help eradicate negative attitudes.

"The more of these exceptional products we launch, the more we move away from the stigma of a South Korean brand, which I think still resonates in Australia to certain extent.

"We're going to break Genesis away from Hyundai but it will obviously still be a Hyundai group brand. It really is a showcase for what the company can do as a whole," he said.

"These are proper world-class cars, and it'll be a world-class brand. In combination it will do a lot for us."