It does seem their pricing is moving ever-upwards as they gain more success. Not unlike Lexus' gradual path - from being far less than their luxury competitors to slowly inching closer and closer.
The base trim is more than $10k over what I paid for my new '19 base trim just six months ago.
A fairly hefty price-increase, but this is the 1st G80 that can truly go head-to-head w/ the Germans.
1. New lightweight platform w/ numerous aluminum body-panels to cut further weight.
2. New 2.5T and 3.5TT which not only offer more power than the Germans, but now offer competitive fuel economy and emissions.
3. An interior that is finally on par w/ the Germans in terms of quality of materials, and better (imo) in terms of design (w/ the largest standard nav screen).
4. More standard features on the base model (including the drivers' aid systems); keep in mind that
40% of the cost of an auto these days is for tech/electronics, and probably even higher for a loaded higher-end luxury model.
Not only more drivers' aid tech and safety features (like the center airbag btwn the driver and front seat passenger), but think of all the cameras/sensors on the loaded G80, including the ones that read the road ahead (w/ the more powerful in-car computer analyzing the data).
It's not that Hyundai wasn't capable of funding it, heck they tried it a couple years ago. What stopped them was state franchising laws that resulted in their own dealerships trying to sue them for not giving all of them the right to sell Genesis. That's why we currently have the awkward "Genesis display tucked in some small corner of a Hyundai dealership" situation. I'd go as far as to claim that the whole mess torpedoed sales of the entire brand from 2018-2019, because prior to that the Hyundai Genesis/G80 was selling quite well, while the G90 did okay.
While Hyundai may have offered some financial aid, it was really the dealership/dealership groups getting financing from their banks to build out a new Genesis dealership.
Under the prior dealership plan, Genesis had lined up 100 or so dealerships that were willing to obtain the financing and build out stores to Genesis' specifications.
Under the revised plan, Genesis can't force dealerships to do anything (same issue Ford is having w/
Lincoln dealerships), but there were a certain % of franchisees that were willing to go ahead w/ a separate Genesis store (once Genesis had a fuller, more sustainable lineup w/ the addition of the GV80 and GV70).
But things may have changed w/ the pandemic. Dealer groups are under financial stress and banks aren't exactly willing to lend $$ to retail operations, esp. for pricey auto dealerships.
(Think many Genesis franchisees should go for a less costly dealership w/ a smaller footprint, but that's a discussion for another day.)
AoA did a price/feature comparison (note - he has a few typos).
One other thing, there will eventually be some aggressive discounts.
Pretty hefty discounts can be had on the E Class and 5er, so eventually (once the initial excitement wears off), Genesis will have to offer discounts to keep the pricing advantage.
Of more concern are the lease rates.
While it should improve some due to the better residual value and money factor, still going to be difficult to compete, much less beat MB and BMW, esp. as Genesis' CPO program is in its infant stages.
thekoreancarblog.com
