Mike Sinclair•16 Jan 2014
NEWS
No 3 Series for Genesis
Hyundai has no plans to build a smaller Genesis sedan, says US chiefHyundai won't extend its Genesis nameplate to smaller sedan models to take on the might of Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class or BMW’s 3 Series. That’s the inside line from David Zuchowski, CEO of Hyundai Motor America.
Hyundai’s biggest offshore operation and Genesis’ biggest marketplace, the USA would be a prime target for a smaller Genesis. As in Australia, BMW and Benz smaller models are strong sales performers in the USA.
But speaking to motoring.com.au this week at the North American International Motor Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Zuchowski poured cold water on any suggestion a 3 Series/C-Class Genesis model was in the wings.
“It’s not in our plans right now,” he stated.
According to Zuchowski globally the brand is focussed on incremental growth in segments where it has existing products. He says he doesn’t discount the filter down effect Genesis is having on other Hyundai models in the USA, but a smaller Genesis is not in his cycle plan.
“We think we’re pretty well covered in segments right now. Our biggest focus right now is on looking at incremental volume in existing segments that we participate, rather than trying to grow more volume in new vehicle segments,” he explained.
“We have to be really careful with our dealer network that we don’t splinter their marketing efforts too much… There’s only so far you can stretch a dealer in terms of market coverage before you start talking about cannibalisation. It’s a really fine line to walk.”
Growth in Genesis volume will in a large part come from the addition of an all-wheel drive version of the second generation sedan. Available in left-hand drive only, there are no plans to sell the all-paw Down Under.
“[Places like] Chicago and you get into New York -- those are great premium segments, big volumes; and in many cases [if] you look at the composition of those registrations, it’ll run 80, 85 per cent all-wheel drive, and we didn’t have an all-wheel drive entrant. We think the availability of [Genesis in] all-wheel drive is really going to propel sales in those markets.”
Zuchowski says Hyundai USA will target total annual Genesis sales in the 50-55,000-unit range.
“The predecessor [first-generation Genesis sedan] generally ran anywhere between 18-22,000 vehicles per year. We see as a partial year this year [generating] 25,000 sales, and on a full-year basis, maybe it gets up to its 30,000 vehicles.”
The rest, he suggests, will be made up of a small number of Equus (Hyundai’s limited volume larger luxury sedan) and the new-gen Genesis Coupe.
“If we do 750,000 vehicles and they [premium models] do 50 or 55 [thousand] of them [then] that’s a pretty good job for us,” he told motoring.com.au.
“We don’t lean on these cars so much for volume contribution as we do for a brand contribution and halo effect,” Zuchowski said.
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Written byMike Sinclair
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