Hyundai Exotica

[Sal Collaziano]

This comes from the same people who told me that the full-size (larger than Genesis) sedan coming in a few years will have close-to Bentley-size proportions...

Hyundai feels confident that they can build any vehicle they desire. That being said, they're concentrating on a new vehicle to compete in the exotic car market. Now this isn't supposed to be a car that performs better than anything like a base Corvette - but it will have exotic looks. Something in between the Fiero or original Acura NSX. It's supposed to be fast (but nothing record breaking), wide, very low and excellent handling. Pricewise, it'll compete between vehicles like the Infiniti G37 and Lexus SC430.

 

[Michael_S]

They just don't give up, do they?

I am honestly not that impressed with Honda's lineup recently. They're selling well and profitable, but I don't feel like they're quite the leaders that they were a few years ago. But I remember an insightful quote from one of Honda's chief executives, "We aren't focusing on maximum sales or profits. We're just trying to win people over, one happy Honda owner at a time."

Hyundai's current lineup is pretty good. But to play armchair general, if I was running the show I would focus more on making their low end models the segment leaders and on making dealership treatment better, and focusing less, for now, on expanding into other segments. When everyone knows Hyundai makes the best low end and mid range cars in the business, then I think Hyundai's attempt to make the best luxury cars (or trucks, or sports cars, or whatever) in the business will have more credibility.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

That's not a bad idea at all - to make the best low end / mid range cars first - and then proceed to an idea like this. That's what Honda did. Everyone knew the NSX was going to be fine. Then again, the NSX was pretty expensive.. The car Hyundai is talking about will be relatively cheap..

 

[GrandPrix08]

An exotic Hyundai? I think they are moving too fast, and too early. And, if they are not careful, they may fall back down to the pit never to be able to come up again. They are just taking things TOO EARLY and TOO FAST despite the fact that they are NEVER experienced in the sports car market. Well, I know, you have to start somewhere right? but I honestly think, if Hyundai wants to jump in to the hard core sports car market, they need to take care of their current offerings first and they should prove to so many people who turned their back on them long ago. If they build that exotic thing right now, chances are, people will just laugh at them, and they will turn back as nothing more than a laughing stock like they were before. It's just that they are not ready yet. They don't even know that the Genesis will succeed or not, so they should really wait to see if it is feasible for such an idea. Hyundai is not known for the sports cars and never will be for some times, plus, they DON'T have any experience on the performance car segment, the Genesis coupe is pretty much their first try, and no-one knows if that will sell or not, considerring how bad their Tiburon did, despite having a sportiest look of any Hyundai.

As Korean myself, I also want to see Hyundai and Kia succeed, but this new idea is not really a good one, it's rather foolish. Well, for now. They should really learn to wait to see how things go, and to see if any American will actually buy their ambitious new sedan and coupe in the first place. Exotic coupe/sedan is NEVER too late if they think about it AFTER that.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I'm thinking that if the Pontiac Fiero did so well, so could this.. The Fiero wasn't anything special - but it looked very nice (for the time) and was kinda quick. And most of all, very inexpensive.. Pontiac canceled it - but so many people still wanted to buy one. In fact, it's still a sought out car...

This one is currently being auctioned for almost $20,000.00!

 

[GrandPrix08]

Yeap, it was a very nice car, and best of all, Pontiac was the only one with that body style. Chevy and no other GM division had theri version. It was Pontiac only. Not like these days, that every GM divisions pretty much have their own version of re-badged copy(COUGH, G5, COUGH). Those were the days. Even Camaro and Firebird looked completely different aside from the side. Not like Cobalt and G5 which is a 100% same car, just the different logo.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

You're right. Those WERE the days. The Grand Prix, Cutlass Supreme, Regal and Monte Carlo were all basically the same car - but they all looked very different..

Well. We'll have to see what happens with this exotic Hyundai if and when it comes out. It couldn't be much worse than the match-box car Lotus Elise...

 

[Michael_S]

GM was mismanaging its money then, and it mismanages its money now, by trying to have so many brands.

When you control 40% of the US auto market and the most important part of your cars is styling then you can give six different brands their own separate engineering, design, and development. Today people care about crash safety, high tech features, reliability, efficiency, and all of the most profitable automakers (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc...) are focusing their design and engineering on a smaller number of superior vehicles instead of a large number of mediocre ones.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

GM was mismanaging its money then, and it mismanages its money now, by trying to have so many brands.

When you control 40% of the US auto market and the most important part of your cars is styling then you can give six different brands their own separate engineering, design, and development. Today people care about crash safety, high tech features, reliability, efficiency, and all of the most profitable automakers (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc...) are focusing their design and engineering on a smaller number of superior vehicles instead of a large number of mediocre ones.

You're right about too many brands.. Unfortunately, I still see more that need to go. Unless they can figure out a way to give each brand it's own separate identity...