Hyundai Motor Group has decided to attack the luxury car market, as well as the environmentally friendly and smart car markets, and strengthen its global marketing network as a way to overcome the tough management conditions facing Hyundai and Kia.
In 2014, Hyundai Motor Group solidified its position as one of the top five global automakers in the world by marketing 8 million cars under Chairman Chung’s leadership. But lately, the changing auto environment around the world led by the emergence of Chinese automakers in the global market, and tougher competition amid the sluggish global economic conditions have made the group to again challenge its leading position as a global automaker group.
The keywords in the new strategy to maintain its leading position in the global auto market are “luxury,” “environmentally friendly,” “smart” and “global” to appeal to savvy, affluent consumers around the world.
In his New Year’s address, Chairman Chung called for an early settlement of the new Genesis model as a top luxury sedan in the global auto market, and making it a sedan representing Korea. He called upon the entire auto company to do its best to achieve the goal.
“We have created this new Genesis brand with a complete focus on our customers who want smart ownership experiences that save time and effort, with practical innovations that enhance satisfaction,” Chairman Chung Mong-koo said in an announcement from Seoul that was streamed to the media at Hyundai's U.S. headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif.
The new Genesis brand — analogous to Toyota’s Lexus division or Nissan’s Infiniti — will target younger, upscale buyers who are “savvy, affluent progressives, who are reasonable, progressive and young” said Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor Co. vice chairman.
Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun has started the engine for the international debut of the G90 (EQ900 in Korea), the first vehicle under the firm’s newly created premium brand Genesis, as he flew to the U.S. last year.
The Korean automotive group official said he would introduce the G90 at the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, better known as the Detroit Auto Show, on Jan. 11.
According to his itinerary, the group’s heir apparent also appeared at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas to observe the latest automotive technologies before joining the Detroit Auto Show.
It is his second straight visit to CES and at the 2016 consumer tech event, Kia Motors, Hyundai’s sister automaker, launched its driverless technology under the new sub-brand “Drive Wise.”
“But it is very obvious that Chung puts his top priority of his business trip to the U.S. on the soft landing of the G90 in the firm’s strategic market for the Genesis brand’s success,” an industry insider said.
Hyundai Motor said the company ran a separate booth for its new global luxury brand during the show. The 46-year-old vice chairman made an English presentation on the Genesis brand and its flagship luxury sedan model G90.
The positive audience feedback for the first Genesis model is especially important as the automaker plans to roll out the G90 in the North American region in the second half of this year.
The U.S. market has been the biggest overseas market for Hyundai’s luxury sedan models such as Equus and Genesis. Hyundai’s trials and errors in the U.S. luxury car segment over the past decade laid the foundation for the creation of the firm’s first premium brand Genesis last November, Chung said during the launch event held in Seoul.
“Chung is carrying out a critical mission to raise Hyundai’s presence in the global premium car market with the Genesis brand at a time when the automotive group is shifting gears toward the high-end market for higher margins,” said Kim Phil-soo, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University College.
Hyundai Motor, once the most profitable automaker globally, was on a downward trend in profitability each quarter last year due to the strong Korean won currency as well as weak sales in China and other emerging markets.
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