Genesis Motor, LLC, commonly referred to as Genesis, is the luxury vehicledivision of the South Korean vehicle manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Initially envisioned along with the plan for Hyundai's new luxury sedan, the Hyundai Genesis, in 2004, the Genesis brand was officially announced as an independent marque on 4 November 2015, launching their first Genesis standalone model, the Genesis G90, in 2017. Genesis models are designed in Rüsselsheim, Namyang, and Irvine ; and produced in Ulsan. In 2020, J.D. Power named Genesis the most dependable automotive brand in North America. Yong-Woo Lee is global head and executive vice president. Mark del Rosso, former president of Audi of America, is CEO of Genesis North America. Markus Henne, former vice-president at Mercedes-Benz, is CEO of Genesis Motor China. Sang-Yup Lee, former designer of the Bentley Continental GT and C-6 Chevrolet Corvette, is head of design. Filippo Perini, former Lamborghini head of design, is chief designer. Peter Schreyer, formerly at Volkswagen and principal designer of the VW Golf, New Beetle, and the Audi TT, is a president and heads design management. Albert Biermann, former head of the BMW M performance division, oversees tuning and performance as executive vice president of performance development and high performance vehicles. Fayez Rahman, former development leader at BMW, is vice-president of architecture development. Andrea Jensen, former designer at Škoda and Volkswagen, heads colour and trim.
History
Hyundai conceived "Concept Genesis" in 2003 and introduced its first model in 2007 as a "progressive interpretation of the modern rear-wheel drive sports sedan". The body design took three years and the total cost of the program was $500 million over a development period of 23 months. Reliability testing ran for 800,000 miles. Hyundai introduced the Genesis in 2008 at the North American International Auto Show. Chris Hosford, Hyundai's United States spokesman, cited three main reasons to make Genesis a stand-alone brand:
Genesis extant seven years in the luxury car market was successful
Genesis ranked among the top three segment sellers
Customers demanded a separate Genesis division
Genesis Motor announced the launch of its first model, the G90, on 9 December 2015. The G90 is the brand's flagship model. Genesis launched in the U.S. in late 2016, with the sale of the G80 and G90 models. The initial dealers are a subset of existing Hyundai dealers, with designated space for Genesis within the dealerships' showrooms. On 14 September 2016 a third model, the Genesis G70, was unveiled in Namyang, South Korea. The car was introduced to the United States market during the 2018 New York Auto Show on 28 March 2018. In June 2018, according to the reports, Genesis Motor ranked first on J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study. The brand's first SUV, the GV80, formally debuted on 14 January 2020.
Models
Future plans
By 2022, a sports coupe and two crossovers are expected, bringing the number of Genesis models to at least six. In addition, in 2018 Genesis registered the GT70, GT80, and GT90 trademarks in preparation for three grand tourer models. Genesis follows an alphanumeric naming convention; car models are named by combining the letter "G" and a number while crossovers are named by combining the letters "GV" and a number. Genesis is initially being marketed in South Korea, China, the Middle East, Russia, Canada, Australia and the United States, followed by Europe and the rest of Asia.
Production aggregate
Between November 2015 and October 2018, Genesis sold 206,882 vehicles; of the total, 127,283 were G80 models, 52,417 were G90 units, and 27,182 were G70s. In 2016, Genesis sold 66,029 models in South Korea.
