What is going on with the closing of Genesis/Hyundai shared dealerships?

[CobraBob]

Anyone else noticing that shared Genesis/Hyundai shared dealerships are going back to Hyundai only?

Okay, so I'll start off by saying that a couple of months ago a brand new standalone Genesis dealership opened in Milford, CT. First one in Connecticut! Finally. Huge, state of the art facility! Genesis vehicles here in Connecticut, except for the new Genesis dealership in Milford, were sold through Hyundai/Genesis shared dealerships, which is common throughout the country. Standalone facilities for Genesis were talked about and expected years ago, but it really has happened on a large scale. This has hurt Genesis sales here in CT. The three Genesis vehicles I purchased since 2019 were purchased at Hyundai/Genesis shared dealerships in Danbury and Meriden. The experiences then and since has been underwhelming. The dealership in Meriden is very small. Their service department lacks properly trained staff, making the service experience very frustrating at best. Service at the Meriden dealership has rapidly declined to the point where service department calls often go unanswered, calls are often not returned, staff turnover is high, and service appointments are over a month out. I found out that some of the CT Genesis/Hyundai dealerships have sold their Genesis contracts back to Genesis, and they will now only sell and service Hyundai vehicles or Hyundai/Kia vehicles.

So yesterday, I called Genesis of Meriden to schedule a routine oil/filter change. Their first appointment was November 6th.....6 weeks away! The last time I scheduled an oil/filter change was last March and the wait was 5 weeks! The one before that in late 2023 was 4-5 weeks. This time, I decided to call the new Milford Genesis dealership and see if things overall were much different from the shared facilities. I was greeted by a very polite and professional service advisor who checked my VIN, reviewed my past service record, and told me their first available time slot for an oil/filter change was that very afternoon! Seriously? Same day? They made it clear that my satisfaction was first and foremost. So I made an appointment for next week. My next call was to the Meriden Genesis/Hyundai dealership to cancel my November 6th service appointment and let them know that a 6 week wait for service was unacceptable, and that the new Genesis of Milford dealership had immediate service slots. Their excuse was (keep in mind that 4-6 week lead times for service have been the norm since 2023) that two Genesis shared dealerships in Danbury and Old Saybrook now only service Hyundai vehicles because they sold their Genesis contracts back to Genesis. So what's really going on here? IMO, Genesis standalone dealership never really advanced beyond the idea stage, so shared dealerships have been the norm and most Genesis owners expect service beyond what the majority of Hyundai dealership can, or will, provide.

It will be very interesting to follow the growth of Genesis of Milford. Right now, there is a huge night and day difference between the service they provide compared to the shared Genesis/Hyundai dealerships. I would expect that sales are equally different. I have no doubt when I visit this new dealership next week that I will be blown away. It should never have taken this long for Genesis to properly build separate dealership facilities for Genesis vehicles sales and service. Hyundai sales are up. Genesis sales are so-so, depending on the area. So now we're seeing Genesis/Hyundai dealership vacate from these shared dealerships to focus solely on lesser cost Hyundai vehicles. And the beginnings of standalone Genesis dealerships....finally. All of this right now is a bit of a mess because as Genesis vacates from Hyundai shared dealerships, customers are left to have to travel further distances for service for their Genesis vehicles. I'm very fortunate in that the Meriden Genesis/Hyundai dealership is about 20 minutes from where I live, and Genesis of Milford is about 35 minutes away. By the way, Milford also has a standalone Hyundai dealership with a different owner.

So is anyone seeing a similar trend happening in their neck of the woods?

A photo of the new Genesis of Milford dealership. The parking lot is huge.


And here is a photo of Meriden Hyundai, which sells/service Genesis vehicles as well.

 

[steveinarizona]

There is a long story here and you can probably dig the details out in this forum. The short version is that Hyundai started selling Genesis through its Hyundai dealerships and when it wanted to make Genesis a standalone luxury brand, with its own dealerships (like Audi, Cadillac, etc.) the Hyundai dealerships sued saying that the parent is braking the franchise agreements. This has gone back and forth with litigation over the years but slowly Genesis is building a separate network of dealers, most of whom are current Hyundai dealers as well.

My dealership started as a Hyundai dealership and is now using a hybrid model (sales/showroom is at an upscale outdoor mall; service is in a separate Genesis service building adjacent to and on the property of the Hyundai dealership. There is another Hyundai dealership in Scottsdale but it apparently decided not to retain the right to sell and service Genesis vehicles. My service manager tells me that this has caused him problems as he has suddenly and unexpectedly inherited a large group of Genesis owners. I suspect this has been happening in other large cities as well.

It will probably take a few more years for this process to finish shaking out and then we will find out if Genesis is really committed to having a franchise network similar to that of BMW, MB, Audi, Lexus, Cadillac, etc. Given how far, and how fast, Hyundai/Kia/Genesis have taken off, I wouldn't write off its likelihood of succeeding.

 

[19 G70 3.3T]

My local dealership just did the same thing. It was a combined Hyundai/Genesis dealer since Genesis became its own brand. In their case, they elected to build a new dealership under the same ownership a couple blocks away from the shared dealership. I haven't been to the new one yet, but it looks to be the same model as all of the new stand alone Genesis dealerships. I'm currently on the list for the two recalls so I should get to see the new one in a couple of weeks.

 

[blnewto]

I'm here in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. When I purchased my first Genesis (a 23 g70) from Genesis Las Vegas it was a combo Hyundai dealer. The closest places at that time to have it serviced or repaired was Genesis El Paso and Genesis Albuquerque (both about 200 miles from us). Both of those dealers were combo Hyundai dealers, and as of now both those dealers have shuttered the Genesis side. My nearest dealer now is 440 miles away in Colorado Springs and ones a bit further out in the Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. We just returned to Genesis Las Vegas (800 miles away) where they just opened a brand new (and quite spectacular) stand alone dealer right next to the old combo Hyundai dealer. The service experience there was great, they took care of my current 21 G70 for the turbo oil line recall, provided a new g70 as a loaner, and had the repair done in the estimated time (dropped of Monday AM, picked up at noon Tues). The service area was busy but not chaotic, staff was friendly and helpful and they seemed to care about the customer experience. Hopefully this attention to the customer will continue as time goes on as they have set a high bar here.
A shame to see so many service centers going away but hopefully they'll continue opening nice new upscale dealers that can continue to grow the brand and keep customers satisfied. Hope I'll have closer choices in the near future, but as long as my G70 isn't disabled we have Las Vegas on our schedule 3-4x a year so it's ok w/ us!

 

[scoop85]

I'm dealing with the same issue. I leased my G70 in May 2023 from Genesis of Goshen (NY), and when I went for my 6,000 service I was told they had lost their Genesis dealership because they weren't willing to spend the money to build a standalone Genesis dealership (they had just built a brand new Hyundai showroom). They still honored my service appointment for the 6,000 mile service.

Came time for my 12,000 mile service and Genesis arranged for Genesis of Engelwood (NJ) to pick up my car (it's about a 50 minute drive to the dealership). Now I'm dealing with the fuel pump recall, and had arranged with Genesis of Mahwah to have the recall work done on 11/19. But I got a call from them that as of 10/31/24, they too will no longer be a Genesis dealer. I'm now back dealing with Genesis Customer Care for them to arrange for a dealership (probably Engelwood) to again pick up my car.

I'm beyond frustrated with how Genesis has handled this issue; when I leased my car, they (and the Goshen dealer) must have known that that dealership relationship was about to terminate, and I'm angry that I was not informed. Had I known I would never have leased the car. I'm an attorney and if Genesis doesn't make this right, I will be reviewing my legal options.

 

[blnewto]

I'm dealing with the same issue. I leased my G70 in May 2023 from Genesis of Goshen (NY), and when I went for my 6,000 service I was told they had lost their Genesis dealership because they weren't willing to spend the money to build a standalone Genesis dealership (they had just built a brand new Hyundai showroom). They still honored my service appointment for the 6,000 mile service.

Came time for my 12,000 mile service and Genesis arranged for Genesis of Engelwood (NJ) to pick up my car (it's about a 50 minute drive to the dealership). Now I'm dealing with the fuel pump recall, and had arranged with Genesis of Mahwah to have the recall work done on 11/19. But I got a call from them that as of 10/31/24, they too will no longer be a Genesis dealer. I'm now back dealing with Genesis Customer Care for them to arrange for a dealership (probably Engelwood) to again pick up my car.

I'm beyond frustrated with how Genesis has handled this issue; when I leased my car, they (and the Goshen dealer) must have known that that dealership relationship was about to terminate, and I'm angry that I was not informed. Had I known I would never have leased the car. I'm an attorney and if Genesis doesn't make this right, I will be reviewing my legal options.

It is frustrating, hopefully Genesis has a solid long term plan for their dealership network. They are investing a lot in their new stand-alone dealerships but sabotaging customers along the way by taking away the convenience of closer options. Hopefully things will start getting better rather than getting worse for finding dealers nearby.

 

[EdP]

It is frustrating, hopefully Genesis has a solid long term plan for their dealership network. They are investing a lot in their new stand-alone dealerships but sabotaging customers along the way by taking away the convenience of closer options. Hopefully things will start getting better rather than getting worse for finding dealers nearby.

They've had a long term plan for the past decade but the dealers have been sabotaging it.

 

[G-401365]

Was about to buy an EV70, Learned that Genesis had just, that day, told the Hyundai/Genesis dealer that is located about 40 miles from me to take all the genesis cars out of the showroom and put them in the back lot and they were coming to get them the next day. It sounds very very dicey to me and I'm going to buy another car; maybe the BMW iX3?