Pick the name of Hyundai's new luxury division

[Sal Collaziano]

Equus? Genesis? Centennial? Or create your own... If you create your own or have another idea, please reply and tell us about it...

 

[Dimitry]

Neither... The only realistic thing I see Hyundai doing is having dealerships go through some sort of process to become a Genesis/Equus (and maybe other models) "premium" dealership

anything else would cost too much money and bring the overall cost up

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Considering they would sell these vehicles INSIDE Hyundai dealerships, what do you think?

 

[Dimitry]

I wouldn't expect them to be sold anywhere else, do you think it would be detrimental to sell them inside the current dealerships?

 

[mikec]

"Centennial" implies something that has been around a while. In the US, Hyundai is just too new to try to pull off this type of name. Most US buyers probably think of Hyundai Automotive as less than 10 years old: "Hyundai's centennial? Maybe 100 months... certainly not 100 years!"

"Equus" doesn't translate/mean anything to most folks; it'll be a goofy word just like Toyota using non-words Camry, Corolla, etc. It certainly meant nothing to me when I first saw it... and I still don't know what the correct pronunciation is. Imagine the car magazine and newspaper stories announcing the "new Hyundai division: Equus" and then having to spend the first 2 or 3 paragraphs explaining what "Equus" means... by then half the readers will have lost interest before they even read about the cars.

"Genesis" is a word that needs no translation. Folks won't get distracted thinking "what's that supposed to mean?" (like they might with Equus) and thus will be able to pay attention to the products!

Honda went with "Acura" which sort-of sounds like "accurate" - and then they made a logo based on precision engineering dividers to reinforce that idea and based their early advertising on those ideas too. "Lexus" is another meaningless word (to most US folks) but it sounds high-zoot and there is no question on how to pronounce it. Nissan's "Infinity" name is a well-known word just like Genesis would be yet "Infinity" has certain "big, forever" connotations.

Ideas of my own? Haha... I can critique forever but I generally can't offer better suggestions. Some word that is a fancy-sounding synonym for "surprise" or "astonish" or "astound" since that's what Hyundai is doing to the auto industry in general. In fact, my name for my Genesis sedan is "Surprise" for two reasons: 1) that it IS a Hyundai and is such a surprise home-run car from them, and 2) that I actually bought (and like) a 4-door sedan with an auto tranny. Folks that know me were surprised by that; everything else I have is a 2-door coupe/hatchback with stick-shift. ALL are rear-wheel-drive; that's one thing I won't give up without a fight! Anyway, too bad some form of "astonish" is too close to the existing "Aston" in "Aston-Martin." (i.e. twist "astonish" into a name just like Honda twisted "accurate" to get "Acura") What can we do with "astound?"

my opinions anyway. Obviously I voted "Genesis."

mike c.

 

[tjc78]

Go with Genesis and then use some sort of number system like the rest do. For some reason, people seem to equate luxury makes to those alpha-numeric numbering systems.

Just don't pull a Lincoln and start everything with the same two letters. Whose brilliant idea was that?

 

[Mark_888]

Neither... The only realistic thing I see Hyundai doing is having dealerships go through some sort of process to become a Genesis/Equus (and maybe other models) "premium" dealership

anything else would cost too much money and bring the overall cost up

I would agree with that. They also would like to use the premium cars to bring attention and credibility to the Hyundai brand, so creating a new brand would be a little tricky in that regard. Hyundai is committed to creating a new customer experience for the premium cars, but I have not read yet that they are going to create an entirely new brand (but who knows, maybe they will?).

One compromise is to just leave off the Hyundai logos on the most visible parts of the luxury cars, but still call it a Hyundai (sort of like a Genesis after re-badging).

 

[TJPark01]

Phil Collins as spokesperson. Potential theme song, "Easy Lover".

 

[kev4]

I suggest the new dealerships be similiar to what Ford has ie Ford/Lincoln, or Chev ie. Cheverlot/Cadilac. So why not Hyundai/Genesis Premium. It worked for ions with Ford and Chev even though we refer to them as Ford and Chev not Lincoln and Cadilac.

The name Genesis means BIRTH, NEW, Fresh, A New Start, the name is powerful within itself and it will stand alone within the dealership.

Just my thoughts.

 

[MattG]

I think they should just call it "Hyundai Premier" or something like that.

I like the name Genesis, but it will become increasingly less appropriate for an entire line over time (rebirth sounds good now, but 10 to 15 years from now it will sound tired).

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[ilovemygenesis]

"Centennial" implies something that has been around a while. In the US, Hyundai is just too new to try to pull off this type of name. Most US buyers probably think of Hyundai Automotive as less than 10 years old: "Hyundai's centennial? Maybe 100 months... certainly not 100 years!"

"Equus" doesn't translate/mean anything to most folks; it'll be a goofy word just like Toyota using non-words Camry, Corolla, etc. It certainly meant nothing to me when I first saw it... and I still don't know what the correct pronunciation is. Imagine the car magazine and newspaper stories announcing the "new Hyundai division: Equus" and then having to spend the first 2 or 3 paragraphs explaining what "Equus" means... by then half the readers will have lost interest before they even read about the cars.

"Genesis" is a word that needs no translation. Folks won't get distracted thinking "what's that supposed to mean?" (like they might with Equus) and thus will be able to pay attention to the products!

Honda went with "Acura" which sort-of sounds like "accurate" - and then they made a logo based on precision engineering dividers to reinforce that idea and based their early advertising on those ideas too. "Lexus" is another meaningless word (to most US folks) but it sounds high-zoot and there is no question on how to pronounce it. Nissan's "Infinity" name is a well-known word just like Genesis would be yet "Infinity" has certain "big, forever" connotations.

Ideas of my own? Haha... I can critique forever but I generally can't offer better suggestions. Some word that is a fancy-sounding synonym for "surprise" or "astonish" or "astound" since that's what Hyundai is doing to the auto industry in general. In fact, my name for my Genesis sedan is "Surprise" for two reasons: 1) that it IS a Hyundai and is such a surprise home-run car from them, and 2) that I actually bought (and like) a 4-door sedan with an auto tranny. Folks that know me were surprised by that; everything else I have is a 2-door coupe/hatchback with stick-shift. ALL are rear-wheel-drive; that's one thing I won't give up without a fight! Anyway, too bad some form of "astonish" is too close to the existing "Aston" in "Aston-Martin." (i.e. twist "astonish" into a name just like Honda twisted "accurate" to get "Acura") What can we do with "astound?"

my opinions anyway. Obviously I voted "Genesis."

mike c.

I would go off on this tangent, instead of a suprise, i would work off on the driving experience, PLEASURE, Joyous, Comfort, etc something along those lines. i don';t think they should come up with some elaborate name like equus or centenial, not a fan of them. They should use something simple and memorable but not memorable like annoying. I like the Acura name, it's catchy, and makes a statement even though i don't know what i means,lol We should go along those lines, and develop a whole marketing scheme around it, distinct Genesis colors, symbols etc something to get people excited aobut when they think of the car.

 

[danieltoye101@msn.com]

I can't think of anything else than Genesis (I'm quite surprised it wasn't taken years ago). Now two years after it was introduced in Korea, the Genesis name now has a following, a reputation that lives up to the meaning, Hyundai will do well with the "Genesis" brand if it decides to expand the name. When it comes to the Equus I can't imagin them not using the Genesis name as it has more in common with the original sedan than the coupe with the Genesis name.