I have only one experience to share and only one comparison:
1/ My former dealer (
Lincoln) had cookies and coffee.
2/ My Genesis dealer had no cookies.
Both had a lousy selection of magazines and nasty coffee.
Lincoln isn't so great either. It's a wanna-be luxury car company - like
Cadillac.
My Hyundai dealer is decidely unfancy - lousy coffee and not a doughnut to be found. But guess what - I spend as little time there as possible. They are cordial, fair, and have a competent and efficient service department. I don't need to be fawned over, and if I can get "Lexus quality" at Hyundai prices the choice is easy. My
Lincoln dealer never had cookies, either, and sold me a lemon to boot.
People like people like themselves. Birds of a feather flock together. This is just nature... If you're the kind of person who pulls up next to a limousine and asks the guy in the limousine next to you for Grey Poupon, you probably would appreciate good coffee, marble floors, donuts, cookies, massages with happy endings and whatever else you're getting at the most expensive dealerships these days.
These are the kinds of people Hyundai needs if they're to become a luxury sport automobile company. They need people with big money to be driving their vehicles. The need politicians, actors, actresses and sports players to be in cars like the Equus. Sure, it's nice to go to the dealership and get crappy coffee and a bad attitude every once in awhile (???), but Mr. Grey Poupon won't have it. He'd rather have the fresh brewed coffee and a BJ - and he's willing to pay for it.
P.S. I'm Mr. Grey Poupon. And I love my dealership BJs.
While I agree whole heartily with both of you I think that we, as owners, are bias. To make this move work they have to gain owners of those other brands who do want the marble floor, the fancy latte's, and all the other pointless bells and whistles.
We all know that most luxury branding is about the hype not about the quality. Those people who think they are better then others because they have a certain car or a fancier house will spend the money to feel important. So as a business you must then make them feel like a unique individual snowflake. LOL
Hyundai says they're just looking to get people into dealerships to buy Elantras and Sonatas.. I don't know.. I know the Equus and Genesis will do exactly that - but I think Hyundai really does want to be a luxury car company. Or at least start a new one. Think about it. They're obviously ABLE to do it. Could they possibly know this fact and willingly decide against moving forward? I seriously doubt it...
I thought that they were going to do flatbed service, meaning that you don't visit a dealer, they pick up and drop off the car from you. And they're not going to let just any Hyundai franchise sell and service the Equus.
This is an interesting idea and I do believe it'll help - but they NEED to do it right. They cannot have some ******* just out of prison with teeth missing picking up the car from SoAndSo's $50,000,000 mansion on Billionaire's Row in Palm Beach. You KNOW this is going to happen. What they need to have is a jerkoff in a $2000.00 suit and tie who can behave for the 5-10 minutes he needs to interact with Mr. SoAndSo.
There is probably always going to be a difference in service (not talking about donuts). Hyundai dealerships just don't pay their employees as much as Acura, Lexus,
Infiniti. BMW, MB, etc. Probably not even as much as Honda and Toyota dealers. Apologies in advance if I offended anyone.
I see this as a problem as well.. The "Equus People" at Hyundai dealerships MUST be paid more. They need to be educated, motivated and have a heaping tablespoon of self-discipline. And they need to be paid enough to dress well.. My goodness, I can see Hyundai going about this all wrong...
I can't believe that many young people would even be interested in the Equus, since it is bigger and slower than the Genesis V8, and at the price they are asking for an Equus, one can get a favorable lease on a BMW 5-Series (a real sport sedan). The Equus is an old man's car, or for someone who is a Hyundai lackey.
I don't think that only older people and Hyundai "lackeys" are going to be interested in the Equus. I'm slightly interested because I sometimes carry several passengers in my vehicle - and I want these people to be very comfortable. I don't like being a passenger. So I need everyone to be more than willing to get into the back seat of my car. My Lexus LS430 was a pleasure for passengers - and my 750Li was as well. The Equus would fit the bill just as nicely - I just need to be assured that I'm not going to hate owning one because of bad service.
And in regards to power - are we sure it's going to be weaker than the Genesis? I was kinda hoping we'd see the new 5.0 liter engine with 430 horsepower or so... As long as the Equus does 0-60 in the 5 second range, I think it'll be fine..