So are you going to buy another Genesis?
Probably not another new one. Until a couple weeks ago a 2nd Genesis was under serious consideration for me. Now it no longer is. It may be again in the future - but it will likely be a pre-2023 G90 and most likely wont even be CPO for the same reasons I stated above. As a very early adopter - I enjoyed the Genny I did have, what it provided and at the cost it provided it. Genesis appears to have forgotten that market.
I appreciate your rant and can understand where you're coming from, you are certainly entitled to hold that view point about the need for chops or history behind a brand before buying a car. However, I don't think that's at all what Genesis is going after with upgrading their showrooms and service center experience.
And therein lies the problem. The brand had already established itself - but in it's correct place. It was a budget/value luxury car. It did quite well there - across the entire line. Now they think they can jump in the big-boy pond like Lexus did - yet without going through the process that Lexus did. They could have easily upgraded the showroom and service experiences without going to the extremes that they have in these empty, cookie-cutter facilities they are pumping out. And they should have.
Whenever I recommend Genesis to anyone who is used to the luxury car segment such as Porsche or Mercedes, it has almost always been "The cars they make are absolutely fantastic, as long as you don't mind the dealership or service experience."
Yes, I remember those days, along with the "but it's a Hyundai" days as well. I was a "G80" owner in 2015 - and everyone was endless impressed with this cool new style of car I was showing them and that they were riding in - until I told them the brand. When I told them I preferred it to either of my 7's they were flabbergasted.
Yeah - the service experience was a bit sub-par - but it was manageable and Genesis was still teething at the time. There had to be some forms of compromise to get 5-series luxury and features at a 3-series price. That's where it fell for the time being. I knew there would be standalones coming and that it would also fix a lot of those problems. What I did not expect was feeling like I was walking into a Rolls dealer and seeing all my money invested in fountains and empty, multi-thousand dollar lounge chairs. Again - those things do not make the dealership or service experience.
To most shoppers in the luxury segment, they care a lot less about price, and much more so about the overall experience of owning the vehicle. This effort of Genesis to boost their showrooms and service centers targets exactly that segment of buyers by eliminating the brand's greatest apparent weakness in delivering a excellent overall experience.
Problem is - Genesis wasn't in the luxury segment. They were in the budget-luxury segment. They changed the game - and didn't bother to tell the players while driving the busses away with the players standing on the field. You can't just enter the market, plant a flag and shout "I'm here!" There is a process to building and earning the reputation. Do that right and the customers will come to you - you wont have to go to them. Blowing wads of cash on flashy showrooms and gaudy lounges does nothing to fix the actual issue of brand weakness. It simply puts lipstick on it.
The same problems still exist - even at those dripping dealerships. There are still few loaners, the lead times are still long, there is still limited concierge service, the cars are in the shop for days when it should be hours, and weeks or even months when it should be days, the parts are still backordered, and there are still only 1 or 2 mechanics in a shop with 8 to 14 bays. The salesmen just wear black sport-coats instead of polos and the shop floor looks more like fine china than as if there is any actual work being done. On top of that - reliability and overall quality has taken a significant downturn. They are getting closer to BMW, Audi, Merc and Caddy in that regards - and less like Lexus.
All the coin that was blown on all of that could have instead been better invested in an elevated - yet cheaper standalone facility and hiring additional staff to provide the services which are advertised with the brand. THAT is how you fix the dealership & service experience. And of course stepping up the quality and reliability back to what it was not that long ago. It would have also helped to keep the prices lower & more reasonable and maintain a considerable price gap between them and the competition. This is what made Genesis appealing to begin with. Since that gap is so much smaller - the appeal is notably less. The sales reports show this. They are going the wrong direction and they are targeting the wrong customers.
It's the right move by Genesis all round, and even if the move bumps up the price of the Genesis vehicles by 10%, it would've been well worth the additional interests that it would very likely generate within the luxury segment. Never underestimate how much value deep pockets assign to perceived experience.
I disagree in part. Brand loyalists will 95% remain brand loyalists. As you said - most of them don't care about price and they always get a new ride in 3 or 5 years anyhow. In the 6-figure
club you are not going to find many who are willing to step down in branding just to get into a cheaper 6-figure car. Genesis' original customer base was mid-tier buyers who were looking to step up their game - but either couldn't go so far as Lex, Merc, BMW and Audi for financial reasons - or were smart enough to avoid them all (except Lex) plus Caddy for reliability reasons. Genesis got a lot more customers who were stepping up than they are ever going to get in stepping down. The "additional interest" pool from below is infinite. From above it is only an ever-decreasing source.
That and somehow I doubt BMW or Mercedes is very respectful of their history or legacy with their "modern" designs.
That is not at all an aspect I am referring to - which is a shitshow in and of itself across the entire automotive industry. I am only focusing on the dealerships themselves.
People were saying the same thing once the G80 and G90 were introduced following the original Hyundai Genesis and Equus with their respective price increases. Old men stuffing their money in a mattress will always yell at clouds.
As an early adopter of the more modern Genesis - I have to disagree. There was only a slight price increase between the 14 and 15 Genesis, as well as the 16 Equus vs. the 17 G90 - while both sported a major step up in vehicle design, features, quality, materials, fit/finish and appeal. In either case you were able to get into a 5 or 7 series class car for a 3 or 5 series price, respectively - when buying a Genesis. And they had killer warranties. My money is in investments - and as much as a car could ever be an investment (nevermind it also being a luxury car) - they were damn good investments. Inarguably the best bang for the buck vehicles you could get in their classes & market segments. The same cannot be said today.
A 2010 Equus Ultimate with an
MSRP of $64,500 would now be ~
$93,332 with inflation taken into account. [...] I'm pretty confident most people would be fine spending an additional $6K on an already $90K+ vehicle if it meant they got better service.
You know damn well that the inflation argument doesn't exactly work here. Previously - inflation was usually driven by a demand for higher wages which then drove up retail prices in order to pay those wages, and then consequently costs of goods - all while maintaining profit margins. Nowadays we have what can only be termed a broken inflation. Costs of goods and materials are up and retail prices are up - but wages are not at all up. Instead - it is being driven purely by profit margin increases. Only the companies are getting any benefit from it now - the consumers are not at all. Much different from inflation generations in the past - even recent past.
By the way, a barebones base model RWD BMW 740i is $97K. Mercedes S500 starts at $117K. A base E350 4-cylinder begins at $63K.
Yep. Much lower increase percentages than Genesis. The price gap between Genesis and the Germans is much smaller than it was. Sorry - but Genny isn't there yet - no matter how much they try to force their way into it. And it is being fueled by stuff like over priced showrooms full of lounges of empty, expensive furniture. I honestly thought I had walked into a high-end furniture store when I went into the service lounge. It was all so completely out of place and un-utilized. This experience has been the same in all 5, new, standalone Genny dealers I have been to.
