When this same parent company launched the first Genesis-badged sedan to the Canadian marketplace back in 2008 , there was enough interest , quality and value proposition attached to this automobile . Canadian sales that first year stood at 342 units — hardly an earth-shattering number by any standards . In 2009 a coupé was offered and , by Canadian criteria was a hit in its first year with sales of 2,407 .
Over the years , the Genesis name delivered a “ human-centered ” range of luxury models that feature the highest standards of performance , design and innovation . Gradually leading to the acceptance of the Genesis name in the competitive Canadian auto culture occurred .
But getting back to the question , why now ? The answer is pretty simple .
Luxury vehicles make up approximately one of every 10 light vehicles sold globally . Evolving , fluid automotive design trends and
technology innovation often serve as the leading edge for the industry ’ s mainstream products . While Lexus , comparatively-speaking , has thrived as an independent brand from Toyota , other luxury brands , such as Ford ’ s Lincoln and General Motors ’ Cadillac have struggled in recent years to attract new and especially , younger , buyers .
Hyundai are the new kids on the world automotive scene arriving in 1967 . Today , even after a stutterstart introduction to the Canadian marketplace back in 1984 with the Pony — two years before the Excel launch in the United States — Hyundai Motor Company is now the world ’ s fourth largest manufacturer of automotive product ( Toyota , Volkswagen , General Motors — and Hyundai ).
In a series of recent far-reaching interviews with Hyundai Canada executives , Michael Ricciuto and Chad Heard , we delved a little deeper into this apparently bold — yet highlycalculated move .
In the early days , Hyundai offered a value proposition first and foremost , following the model of some Japanese manufacturers who had cracked the North American market with the introduction of smaller , more fuel efficient models at a time when the world was practically ransomed by the extremely high cost of oil and gasoline production . Detroit ’ s Big 3 had not made many serious attempts to offer affordable alternatives and the Asian manufacturers grew and succeeded by listening to the noise in the market place — and what prospective buyers were looking for in their transportation demands .
That ’ s not to say that everything produced from Asia was an immediate and runaway success . These very same manufacturers learned from their missteps , listened harder and designed , engineered and built better and smarter .
Hyundai Motor will launch six new Genesis models by 2020 including two crossovers and will compete with the world ’ s most renowned luxury car brands . thedriver . ca 13