August 16, 2015
2015 pulled the rug pulled from under Hyundai’s feet. After the over a decade of explosive expansion, the Korean company and its sister Kia are finally feeling stagnant sales like most other auto makers. The minimalist car maker responded to their new climate of mediocre growth by previewing a potential facelift for their Genesis family; Hyundai released a concept sports Coupe; the Vision G. It premiered at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. However, the more traditional industry specific release” will be at Concours d’Elegance. The Vision G appears to be a typical over the top concept, until one realizes; it is only conspicuous compared to a regular production car. Even then, there are far more freakish looking production cars. In fact, as far as concepts go, it is lukewarm water. The exterior could be considered slightly eccentric, the interior is moderately flamboyant, but the only really far-fetched aspect on board the Vision G is the Virtual Valet Door System. The concept car could be closer to a production model than it appears. Similar to the Santa Cruz concept (which is a strikingly charming hermaphroditic car/truck contraption) Hyundai made, the Vision G could be the evolution of Genesis wearing concept coat. If so, there is a small chance the Vision G could be a very un-minimalist version of what Hyundai envisions for their only sports car the Genesis Coupe. I humbly disapprove of that plan of attack, I hope (and think) that the Korean company has a bigger ace up their sleeve, namely branching out and making Genesis a brand of its own, like Lexus is to Toyota. That would allow Genesis to be seen as a standalone luxury automaker, like Lexus light, diet Lexus, or I can’t believe it’s not Lexus… or something nowhere near as ostensibly offensive. Though jokes aside, doing anything Lexus like should be seen as complementary. They came out swinging and never stopped; they are a key factor in Toyota’s takeover of the number 1 automaker throne. In 5 and a half of the past 6.5 years, Toyota has been the number one auto seller. The (not so) secret to their success was (economics 101) providing the highest quality product at a competitive price in regard to the other automakers in the lower spectrum. Lexus, was the number 1 Luxury auto seller in for 11 years, unfortunately they refused to dip below 30 for an entry level model, which cost them sales, now they are number 3 behind the mighty Germans, BMW and Mercedes respectively. I am not saying that this will propel them to the number one auto manufacturer spot. Making Genesis the luxury evolution of Hyundai, will be a strong branding move, but their competition is still as staunch as ever. However, it will allow Genesis to garner a reputation of their own without affecting or being affected by their parent company. It seems that the Vision G has not made enough of an impact, because it is quite possibly the first model of an entirely new Korean brand.