The G70 and the Stinger may have not been designed to be competitors... but that's how it has shaped up for me. I may still go for a Stinger depending on where that MSRP lands. I see them as competitive because they're similar performance for the money, they're AWD sedans, similar electronics and infotainment systems, etc. At the moment I personally like the G70 more but my wife is trying to pull me to the Stinger. We have one 5 year old. Only child.
I guess my only concern is that intent of competition or not - Genesis should be careful about pricing this car too far outside the Stinger GT2 range. I've sat in both and while I agree the interior of the G70 is superior (and again I personally like it more) - you kind of have to remember we are talking about the category of "entry level luxury sedan". Entry level being the key word. Both cars meet the standards of that requirement. As an example : TLX is vastly inferior to both cars in interior quality but Acura is going to sell some 50,000 dollar TSX's for sure. My point is that while there is a difference between G70 and Stinger in interior quality - relatively speaking it's not much. I also don't care nearly as much about one being a 6 inch longer sport back and one being a sedan. Stinger has a more practical trunk and more rear legroom and Genesis should handle better. That's just a pro and a con for each not a reason to completely eliminate one from a list. Sometimes companies get caught thinking a consumer behaves in a completely binary way - and they just don't. We are talking about 2 cars that share quite a bit of their 'soul' with one another, I think. I think judging by how often the Stinger is brought up in the same breath as the G70 people are quite aware of that fact - and Genesis should be aware of it too and not pretend they aren't in any competition with each other at all. Kia made a pretty bold pricing move in Canada and I don't think Genesis would be wise to simply ignore it.
Agree that Genesis shouldn't price the G70 significantly more than the
Stinger; altho, would say that it applies more to the US market than the Canadian where Kia Canada priced the
Stinger aggressively.
Simple -- I've been in both vehicles. You can tell the quality by looking at it and feeling it -- it is very obvious the G70 has better build quality and materials by a considerable margin (material quality/touch and feel, panel gaps, interior design and element placement, etc). Rattles are one thing I haven't experienced yet so I won't comment on those.
The G70 may have tighter panel gaps (since supposedly, Hyundai has its best assemblers building Genesis models, in particular, the G90), but I've been impressed by how tight the panel gaps have been in more mundane Kias like the
Sorento and Optima.
It isn't a sleight on the Stinger at all. Rather, it is a complement that they have a vehicle that is quite competitive! However, the G70 was intentionally designed to be the superior vehicle in terms of luxury and performance with no compromises in those two regards whereas the Stinger does compromise slightly in order to fit a more aggressive price bracket. It is what it is and they both cater to slightly different audiences.
Agree that the
Stinger was developed to a certain price-point (much like what the original Genesis sedan was - speaking of which, the starting MSRP of the
Stinger is right around what the starting price of the Genesis was w/ the diff. being that the Kia has a turbo 4 as its base engine and the Genesis a NA V6).
But the interior of the G70 wouldn't have been as luxurious as its is if it weren't for one person working on the project who insisted that all the metal looking bits be actual metal (if there's one thing I would change for the interior of the
Stinger is to make all the metal looking bits be actual metal instead of the current mishmash where it's a combo of aluminum and painted plastic).
Stinger is a tweener between the G70 and G80. G80 is definitely comparable to a 5 Series.
Much like how the 4 Series GC and A5/S5 are a tweener btwn the 3 and 5 Series and the A4 and A6, respectively.
Now, about the pricing, typically, a fastback/liftback bodystyle (which is usually on an extended version of the platform underpinning the 4-door) has a price premium - which would mean that the
Stinger should be priced higher than the G70.
But the G70 has the more luxurious interior, a slight edge in performance, a luxury brand (and a dealer network in the works) and the added service/convenience amenities that go w/ a luxury brand - so the G70 makes up for its smaller footprint and 4-door bodystyle.
But Genesis needs to be careful in how much more they charge for the G70 in comparison to the
Stinger, esp. for the US market where the
Stinger is already treading close to the pricing on the Q50 (which is on the large end of the entry-sedan segment).
The base
Stinger w/ 255HP starts at
$32k.
The base Q50 w/ 208HP starts at
$34k.
The Q50 w/ 300HP starts at
$39k
The
Stinger GT w/ 365HP starts at
$38.3k.
The Q50 RS AWD w/ 400HP tops out at
$53k - only $1,600 more than the
Stinger GT2 AWD.
There have been a # of prospective
Stinger GT2 buyers who's hearts were w/ the
Stinger, but ended up opting for the Q50 RS b/c the lease deals were so much better.
