Genesis G70 finally appears, but mostly on TV

[YEH]

Genesis G70 finally appears, but mostly on TV

October 13, 2018 @ 12:01 am
Vince Bond Jr.

The svelte 2019 Genesis G70 has marked its turf on the "Monday Night Football" halftime show this season with stylish black-and-white promos that give consumers a game-day glimpse of the next phase of Korean luxury.

Meanwhile, many dealers are playing a waiting game, looking forward to their first shipments of the luxury sedans and more information on requirements to keep selling Genesis products.

Even in a crossover-heavy luxury market, hopes are high for the sporty sedan, which is expected to broaden the Genesis buyer base by drawing younger consumers, more women and the tech-savvy. It's the first Genesis product that isn't a carryover from the Hyundai brand.

And dealers are pleased with the pricing strategy, which includes a $35,895 entry-level option — the same price as the rival BMW 3 series — and a series of upper trim levels that can push the price to $53,245. Prices include shipping.

A Genesis spokesman told Automotive News the first G70s have been shipped, and that the brand expects 100 to 200 dealers to have them by year end.

That's the latest update in a timeline that has continually slid. When it debuted, the G70 was projected to reach U.S. showrooms in spring 2018. Then the release window shifted to summer amid tumult over the brand's retail strategy. Now, three weeks into fall, cars are trickling into selected markets.

Atlanta is one of those markets. Genesis of Atlanta received close to 10 G70s this month and began selling them as soon as they arrived.

!00 to 200 is still well short of the 400 or so dealerships which have applied for a Genesis store; not surprising as Genesis has stated that the dealership selection process will continue into early next year.

"We've gotten a lot of floor traffic on the car," said John Noaker, sales manager for Genesis of Atlanta and Jim Ellis Hyundai. "We're getting people we haven't seen before from other brands. It's opening some doors. These are former Mercedes buyers, BMW buyers."

The shipments can't get here soon enough for Gregory Mauro, who owns Gregory Hyundai in Highland Park, Ill. Mauro said a regional manager for the brand recently brought a G70 to him for a test drive.

Mauro said he expects to get the sedan this month, which is good news, but he had hoped to have it in the summer.

"It's frustrating. You've got people coming in [asking], 'You got it yet?' Nope," Mauro said. "Some of those people, their leases are up, so they've probably already bought something else."

He said Genesis is offering "a lot of car" for the money and believes the top trim levels will do the most business at his suburban Chicago store.

People like Beefer (I kid, I kid).

South Florida is one of Genesis' highest-volume markets, but the G70 isn't yet available in the state. Andrew DiFeo, chairman of the Hyundai National Dealer Council, said in late September that he expected the G70 to go on sale in Florida in the next 60 days. Allocations, he said, should begin soon.

Another Southern dealer said he doesn't know when the sedan will arrive, but he's not going to bug Genesis about it. He said he's just grateful that he'll be able to sell Genesis models beyond 2018, now that the brand has backed away from a plan to shrink its dealer count and separate its retail network from Hyundai's.

"When they were talking about only having 100 Genesis dealers," he said, "they weren't going to have one in Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina or Arkansas."

As of late September, Genesis is an authorized distributor in 45 states, while a spokesman said the brand is working closely with the other five to finalize its licenses.

'Absolute craziness'

After the about-face in retail plans in April, the opportunity to sell Genesis was offered to all Hyundai dealers in the U.S. as long as they agreed to open standalone Genesis stores by January 2021.

But now even that timetable is considered flexible. A spokesman said via email that the brand will still "strongly encourage facilities being built, particularly in key markets, as quickly as plans, permitting, etc. will allow."

For now, Walters said, dealers are operating under the showroom-within-a-showroom model, but long-term specifics on building new stores are "loose right now."

"It's been very little communication on the whole plan," he said. "We have a facility that we are underutilizing that could work based on what they're looking for."

Another dealer told Automotive News that he has washed his hands of the Genesis business altogether, frustrated by the ever-evolving retail plan.

He has sold his interest in his dealership, leaving his partner to run the operation without him, though he hasn't ruled out getting back in someday.

"That was absolute craziness with Genesis. I was done," he said. "I want to move on to another manufacturer and do something else."

Stated at the beginning (when the 100 dealer network was announced) that (1) it was too few stores (leaving some decent sized states, like SCarolina and Alabama w/o a store) and (2) there was no way that they were going to be ready to sell the G70 (and other 2019 models) by the timetable they had set.

It still amazes me that they are still working on getting the regulatory/licensing worked out w/ California; they should have gotten all that (for the states which are the largest markets for luxury vehicles) worked out months ago (by that, mean the beginning of 2018 if they were planning to launch in the spring).

 

[danygenesis]

Another thing to add to this mess is that having only 100 dealers all the Concierge/valet/free maintenance crap that's supposed to be included on the car price is not going to work. We are going to pay for something that won't be honored (or at least won't work in the way they promised)
What a fuc..ink fiasco Genesis!!!!

 

[Beefer]

Another thing to add to this mess is that having only 100 dealers all the Concierge/valet/free maintenance crap that's supposed to be included on the car price is not going to work. We are going to pay for something that won't be honored (or at least won't work in the way they promised)
What a fuc..ink fiasco Genesis!!!!

Why do you say that? You’re thinking they’ll be overloaded and unable attend to the owners within the 60 mile radius?

 

[danygenesis]

Why do you say that? You’re thinking they’ll be overloaded and unable attend to the owners within the 60 mile radius?

100 or 200 dealers are too few for having one dealer at a 60 miles radius from the other. Florida for example is more than 400 miles long. They need at least 6 dealers, not counting the traffic. Here in South Florida it takes you around two and a half hours driving for getting such distance at any given time during the weekdays. Just to give you an example of how many dealers they need I have no less than 6 different Lexus, BMW, MB dealers in a 60 miles radius from my house.

 

[Beefer]

I’m just glad I’m about 6 miles from my dealer.

 

[JayceM]

I’m just glad I’m about 6 miles from my dealer.

Yeah, you're lucky. I think they're going to run into the fact that a lot may not be close enough to benefit from the service which takes away a selling point.

 

[Ed Okin]

Thanks for posting. I just saw this article linked in Twitter.

It says that: “As of late September, Genesis is an authorized distributor in 45 states, while a spokesman said the brand is working closely with the other five to finalize its licenses.”

It doesn’t say which 5 are not done nor does it say why only a few of those 45 have any G70s.

 

[ACCHRM]

CA has to be one of those 5

 

[Toddasaurus]

CA has to be one of those 5

Same with Oregon. Haha.

 

[TurtleBoy]

And Colorado and PA and Utah. Somehow I think there are more than five.

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[governor]

is there any other brand that mishandled a release of a product they so can't afford to fall short of expectations ?? Audi has their 2019 A6 configurator already and they rolling them out in early 2019. Genesis is losing business and more importantly losing its perceived luxury shopping experience.

 

[TurtleBoy]

is there any other brand that mishandled a release of a product they so can't afford to fall short of expectations ?? Audi has their 2019 A6 configurator already and they rolling them out in early 2019. Genesis is losing business and more importantly losing its perceived luxury shopping experience.

Don't use Audi as an example. Their rollout also has many problems. It is way behind and as of yesterday the A6 and A7 still has not received EPA certification. Their configurator is also full of problems and should not be trusted. The options available in the Order Guide, the features list on their website and on the configurator are not consistent. I don't think they are as bad as Genesis since at least some information is out there but it is not all correct.

 

[governor]

Don't use Audi as an example. Their rollout also has many problems. It is way behind and as of yesterday the A6 and A7 still has not received EPA certification. Their configurator is also full of problems and should not be trusted. The options available in the Order Guide, the features list on their website and on the configurator are not consistent. I don't think they are as bad as Genesis since at least some information is out there but it is not all correct.

I dont care if that config isn't 100% accurate.. at least I can get my jolly off of visual simulator. lol

but Genesis had a grand release that was targeted for this spring but we are looking into spring 2019. Thats just sheer incompetence

 

[Mcc]

I dont care if that config isn't 100% accurate.. at least I can get my jolly off of visual simulator. lol

but Genesis had a grand release that was targeted for this spring but we are looking into spring 2019. Thats just sheer incompetence

The problem is when there inaccuracies, you can never tell what you can trust. There would be as many people griping about a bad configuration as there are griping about no configurator. I know, they need to get it out and get it right.

 

[Ed Okin]

Why only Flo Rida? Where’s the MNF commercial video from Califor Nia?

 

[YEH]

Don't use Audi as an example. Their rollout also has many problems. It is way behind and as of yesterday the A6 and A7 still has not received EPA certification.

Which is why A6, A7 and A8 sales have tanked even worse than Genesis sales the past few months.

 

[TurtleBoy]

Which is why A6, A7 and A8 sales have tanked even worse than Genesis sales the past few months.

Definitely doesn't help but I think more of it had to do with the recall/stop sale of them due to the airbag issue.

 

[YEH]

True, but that didn't effect the A8 and sales for the past 3 months were 34, 32 and 14.

Also, that stop-sale started in mid-June; it's rare for a stop-sale to last this long when it covers a component that can be replaced.