spinxt

Actually I don't think the Genesis Coupe or Sedan for that matter look much like the rest of the produt offering. Of course the 2013 certainly does, but that change was done with a half a dozen cosmetic parts. It would be quite easy to differentiate the Genesis brand from the Hyundai/Kia brands cosmetically.

Look at the other premium brands-

Acura TSX & Honda Accord- mechanically similar
Nissan Z & Infinity G37- Mechanically similar
Acura MDX & Honda Pilot- Mechanically similar

See it's not hard to make cars look vastly different with a few panels and interior tweaks.

Infected

But if they planned on making the different brands.. why make the newest one look like all their other cars? It doesn't make sense.

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TweetTrack

Wrong. Yep yep and yep, they look alike. They all do a lousy job of separating their 'premium' brands.

Infected

They don't share the same front fascia like the new GC does with the rest of the Hyundai line up.

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Hemi0705

Haven't you seen the new elantra coupe? It has the same ugly grill ass the 2013 gc

Hemi0705

Oh haha I see what your saying. I thought you meant they didn't look the same.

VIRphan

I'm a little torn on this one. Selfishly I'd like to be a little more separated from Hyundai since these cars are truly superior to the entry level models (except for the Sonata and 2013 Azera). This approach is different from the Infinity, Lexus and Acura spinoff though. The other premium brands have a full fleet of luxury cars, Hyundai would have 3-4 (depending on if they include the Azera). The Equus, while a very nice car that I would love to own, isn't gaining the exposure that they need to keep it in production (of course I'm only looking at the North America exposure but perhaps Asia is a different story). If the Equus doesn't take off soon then I would expect this to become an Asia-only car.

Additionally, much of Hyundai's overall success has been to improve the image of the entire fleet. Much of this reputation has been due to the introduction of the luxury models that seemed to filter their design and creature comforts down to the other models.

Spinning off also flies in the face of their current marketing efforts.. The "Is that a Hyundai?" marketing really works because everyone is saying these five words. Would more people buy their luxury line if it was spun off? I'm not sure.. maybe.

By the way.. Quality in the GC needs to move up several steps for it to be considered luxury. I love my car and the design is fantastic. Performance is great but there are too many creaks, rattles and cheap materials to call this a luxury car.

Out of the three cars.. Genesis Sedan, GC and Equus.. I think they're only making decent money on the Genesis. Their primary success has been in the econo lines and the Sonata. The P&L statement for a luxury line would be scary unless they expanded on this and introduced other cars.. which would be what? SUV?

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AKGC

Go back a couple of years. In the 90s they looked similar to their counterparts, just some minor cosmetic changes and what they were equipped with.

They look different now because they are try to differentiate the brands.

spinxt

You're thinking too short term....this is years away, not months.

TechGen

No sub-brand planned, AWD likely:

Genesis AWD Model Likely; No Plans for Premium Brand | North America content from WardsAuto

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VIRphan

They're building these lines to develop an image and reputation for the entire organization. I'll put money on the fact that the Equus loses money in North America and the GenCoupe may break even. The Gen sedan has a larger following but the money is in the rest of their line-up.. This is exactly why they would never spin off the Gen and Equus lines. They need this image to help drive the other sales.

Good article. Thanks for linking.

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Soap

Woooow... there was a Tuscani at my school and for the longest time I wondered what it was. I always thought it looked like a tib too.. was just too lazy to google it.

charlie57

This. There was a great article in Motor Trend Classic on this. Basically The Regan Admin said "Dear Asain car companies, you can only send over this many cars per year." Demand exceeded that and tada, badge engineered luxury cars, and new marques along with a small # of unique models. Look at Chrysler and Lincoln, those two "lux" brands are severly short on ideas and barely justify their price premium. Hyundai is smart to keep its luxury in house.

AKGC

Part of the US domestic off shoots were because some many americans were buying so many cars back then. To limit the lack of rarity of certain models they made cometic and package changes and new badges.

For the AWD. it depends on how they implement it. If the front wheels are only to delivery power when needed, then I think it will do well, but hyundai has NO track record of making such center diffs.
I think it would be easier, engineering wise, to have the front wheels be electrically powered, since they already have the hybrid system on the market, without any reported issues.