Genesis Isn't Ditching Sedans Anytime Soon

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

People love to buy SUVs, and some automakers have responded by tilting their vehicle offerings in favor of larger vehicles, though many remain committed to cars. Genesis isn’t giving up on its gorgeous luxury sedans anytime soon, as the company’s chief creative officer recently told Australian media that “it’s a mistake to basically write off a typology of a vehicle.”


Luc Donckerwolke said that, while he loves SUVs, he doesn’t want to see the streets packed full of the same type of vehicle. He also bemoaned the number of designers in the industry who have only worked on SUV projects.


“I will continue to make sedans and coupes and everything because you have to fight for every single millimeter to get the right proportions, doing an SUV is so easy, and you end up with designers with limited skills because they have only been working on bricks on wheels and I don’t want that.”


Even though Donckerwolke doesn’t want to focus on SUVs, the company has some insight into making the design work. Genesis recently showed off the GV80 Coupe at the New York International Auto Show, promising a production variant. If the civilian version is anywhere close to the design we saw at the Show, it will be one of the most stunning SUVs on sale.


[Image: Genesis]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • Tassos Tassos on Apr 08, 2023

    Genesis isn't but buyers ARE. Since the 1990s. But the Ego of Hyundai Conglomerate execs is more important, this is why H-Kia made 15 Failed attempts to sell luxury vehicles in the US, this being the 15th.

    • See 1 previous
    • Bd2 Bd2 on Apr 10, 2023

      Praytell what were the 15 failed attempts?


      The 1st lux model offered by HMG was the Equus (which wasn't quite to par with the competition with respect to interior appointment), and only recently have they expanded their lux offerings with the GV70 and GV80, where demand far outstrips supply.


























  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Apr 08, 2023

    "bricks on wheels" is how designers view functional products

    • Stuki Moi Stuki Moi on Apr 09, 2023

      "Functional", if still suboptimal, at 1930s era speeds.... At anything resembling a reasonable move-on, roll'y, brick shaped contraptions set far too high above ground, are no more "functional" than a Zeppelin is a "functional" airplane: It does fly, at speeds which may have seemed acceptable in the 30s...


  • Analoggrotto Analoggrotto on Apr 10, 2023

    They could if they would, sell nothing but derivatives of the Palisade/Telluride exclusively to upper class suburban "families" and walk away with every Escalade, RX and MDX sale they could. But the bizarre Amsterdam church sex club styling they have espoused doesnt always sit well w/ that crowd.

  • Bd2 Bd2 on Apr 10, 2023

    #1 reason why Genesis wouldn't walk away from luxury sedans (esp. above the entry/compact segments) is because the G80 and G90 are big sellers in Korea.


    Best month for the G80 is north of 8k units and for numerous months, the G90 has sold, in one month, about a year's worth of LS (current) sales worldwide.

    Big luxury sedans are still very much in demand in Korea; Korea is one of the 3 largest markets for the E/S Class sedans (along with China and the US).





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