Genesis Executive Explains Car-Heavy Lineup

With three sedans making up its current lineup, Genesis has taken an approach some think is ill-advised in this SUV-hungry market. The craving for big utility vehicles is especially pronounced for luxury vehicles, so this criticism seems reasonable. That’s why when Genesis Motor America’s COO, Erwin Raphael, recently explained to Automobile Magazine why the company is using this seemingly dumb strategy his reasoning is definitely worth hearing out.

Just like in any industry, there tends to be a disproportionate focus on certain trends. For automakers this has been SUVs ever since they knocked sedans off their long-held sales perch. As Raphael points out, there’s still about 40 percent of new vehicle shoppers grabbing cars. He even feels that the SUV trend is just that, a trend, and the market could easily shift back to cars.

Someone better tell Ford.

But Genesis will jump into the SUV market starting in 2021 with the GV80. Then everyone wringing their hands can finally calm down.

Raphael also noted that Genesis isn’t doing badge engineering of Hyundai models, so it must create each vehicle from the ground up. It wanted to establish three strong platforms using cars, then use those to make excellent SUVs. And perhaps you can argue it should’ve been done the other way, but for reasons that are likely trade secrets it wasn’t.

Source: Automobile Magazine