Don’t be a brand slave, says Genesis

Hyundai’s fledgling luxury sub-brand, Genesis, has issued a tongue-in-cheek message to prospective luxury car buyers in Australia: don’t be ‘brand prisoners’.

Borrowing the same rhetoric that won Audi plaudits with its ‘brand prisoner’ advertisement campaign during the 2011 US Superbowl, Genesis Motors Australia general manager Peter Evans earmarked the Korean brand as a genuine alternative to the German luxury triumvirate of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in Australia.

“Most of our customers will be entrepreneurs, small to medium enterprise owners, self-actualised and self-made. Not brand prisoners,” he envisioned during the preview of Genesis’ forthcoming retail studio in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall this week.

According to the Australian boss of Hyundai, Scott Grant, Genesis’ refreshed consumer approach will help it garner steady local sales.

Under plans discussed with carsales.com.au, Genesis’ retail outlets in Australia will provide customers one solitary “personal concierge” throughout the entire buying and ownership experience.

“The whole thing coming into this is very much focussed on being able to differentiate, to reach people in different way and appeal to a different type of customer who’s less pretentious, you might say,” Grant said.

“Customers are looking to some extent for value, but also tech and safety, but packaged in a very simplistic way. And the ownership experience will be unique to them.”

Hyundai’s Genesis sub-brand is set to formally launch in Australia from around March 2019 following more than 12 months of delays.

The Korean marque will commence sales with the G70 and G80 luxury sedan pairing, followed by at least two more SUVs from 2020.

“There is nobody else we will be targeting other than the three Germans [Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz], Volvo, Jaguar and Lexus,” Evans said.

“But also you can’t be arrogant and forget Infiniti.”

Helping Genesis to get a toe in the water, initially, will be some fleet sales blended with growing private sales, Evans envisioned.

“We’ve had some interest from government fleets,” he said. “With the demise of the Holden Caprice, BMW has sold 530ds to the police force and I noticed that Scott Morrison’s commonwealth car is a BMW. But below that there’s potential for government fleets and large fleets.

“That market has reasonable fleet content. They’re usually senior executive level cars that are packaged up for companies. We’ll probably sell some G80s to hire car operators as well.

“Value still has a place, even in the luxury market. Our thinking, there are luxury customers – and that segment starts at $50,000 or lower – but I think we can produce as good or better quality than the traditional luxury brands.

“We can package the car with tech and safety and features to the equivalent of everybody else but we can package it in a no-price, no-haggle, no-complication manner.”