The luxury image Genesis has been working to advance — which includes opening high-style retail facilities with white glove sales and service — also needs refinement.
“Until recently, Genesis was a brand with fantastic product but not much of a brand identity or story,” Kim said. “Now, Genesis is clearly using design and its Korean heritage as two main calling cards.
“While its vehicles are solid values, they’re not pushing a value message for the brand as they are clearly trying to make Genesis aspirational and desirable in its own right,” he said.
Hitting six figures appears possible, but Genesis also faces hurdles as the industry recovers from the pandemic and microchip shortage.
Economic headwinds such as inflation and overall vehicle affordability, coupled with a lower number of lease offerings, will slow down market activity, Brinley said.
“U.S. sales are growing compared to 2022, 2021 and 2020, but we’re not seeing a 17-million-unit year anytime soon,” she said. All brands will be fighting a piece of a smaller pie.
The industry is also making a dramatic shift to electrification, and for Genesis, that is a declared priority.
In the past 12 months, the brand has launched three EVs: the electric version of the G80 sedan, the electric-only GV60 compact crossover and, most recently, the Electrified GV70, which is the first Genesis to be built in the U.S. as well as the first domestically produced EV from Hyundai Motor Group.
Despite a rush for automakers to produce EVs, the rate at which consumers will adopt them is not yet clear.
“If consumers don’t take on EVs as quickly as we would like, that could slow Genesis down,” Brinley said.
Kim agrees: “A challenge, and one that is to some small degree out of Genesis’ control, is the market’s willingness to adopt EVs.”
But carving out a space for its EVs in the luxury space presents a different opportunity.
“Genesis’ relative newness can be an advantage here since there is no ICE heritage that longtime customers may be loyal to,” Kim said.
According to data from AutoPacific’s Future Attribute Demand Study, 60 percent of luxury brand intenders want something other than a traditional gasoline engine in their next vehicle.
“If Genesis can successfully establish its desirability among luxury EV customers, it could be well positioned to ride the wave of luxury EV adoption in the coming years,” he said.
