Hyundai is betting big on Genesis with dealer model move

The surge in growth this century of the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) means it is now the world’s third largest car maker, behind only Toyota and the Volkswagen Group.

The third brand in HMG alongside Hyundai and Kia is premium newcomer Genesis, and “there is unwavering belief [within HMG] that it will be very successful,” says Ashley Andrew, Genesis UK managing director. “Then you’re just discussing the when and the how.” 

Strong stuff, yet as the likes of Infiniti, DS and probably even Lexus will testify, launching a premium brand is about as tough a test as you can get in today’s car industry, particularly in Europe.

There is no modern precedent for a new premium brand consistently challenging the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz here, despite the proliferation of new brands in that time. 

It’s just over four years since Genesis’s UK launch. Its strategy has since changed so significantly that it has effectively relaunched. It has gone from a direct sales model and a handful of ‘Spaces’ in shopping centres to plans to create 12 physical sites with retail partners. Seven are already up and running.

These are shared sites with Hyundai, with which Genesis’s back-end UK operations were merged in late 2023, although there is a “solid wall” between the brands. Any sites on top of these dozen are expected to be standalone Genesis showrooms. 

Andrew, who also leads Hyundai in the UK, says the back-end merger gets Genesis in front of fleet buyers as part of conversations with Hyundai, and the showrooms get the brand’s cars in front of private buyers for the first time in a traditional way.

Still, Genesis has sold fewer than 1000 cars in the UK so far this year. But big-name retailers including Arnold Clark and Pendragon have invested in Genesis showrooms and Andrew says they have done so because these “investors understand Hyundai and know that the group succeeds with whatever they set out to do”.

For Genesis, Andrew says defining ‘success’ remains about “market awareness” and ensuring that every customer gets exceptional service as part of its philosophy of ‘son-nim’ – Korean for ‘honoured guest’. “It’s not about scale; it’s protecting that bespoke service as that’s how we differentiate ourselves,” he says.

Even so, having more Genesis cars on the road is clearly desirable for many reasons, among them the belief that “customers are the best advocates”.