Genesis has been fighting German luxury auto brands head on, but now it’s also looking to take on premium vehicles from another country: China.
Korean publication Maeli Business Newspaper reports the Hyundai-owned brand will launch a people mover for the Chinese market, aimed at strengthening its image there.
While people movers are often regarded as simple family transportation in Australia, in China they’re often status symbols and flagship vehicles for their respective manufacturers, and can be had with luxury equipment like cabin dividers and huge TV screens.
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Should Genesis launch a people mover, it would take on a raft of models from Chinese brands, ranging from the Denza D9 to the Zeekr 009, but also the LM from Japanese luxury brand Lexus.
It would serve as a halo vehicle for the brand there, while Maeli Business Newspaper also reports luxury MPVs often have higher profit margins than sedans.
It could also be exported to markets within Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The publication doesn’t note what powertrain it would use, though we’d expect it to be a plug-in hybrid, electric vehicle (EV) or extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) given Chinese market trends. Genesis already offers EVs and will soon launch its first hybrids and EREVs.
Genesis’ design team has sketched ideas for a luxurious people mover before, with a particularly rakish vehicle appearing in sketches published by Auto&Designmagazine, and reshared by Anh Ðinh Hoàngon Instagram (above).
The Hyundai Motor Company is looking to arrest a sales slide in the Chinese market that started in 2017.
The Beijing Hyundai joint venture sold over a million vehicles in China each year between 2013 and 2016, before sales dropped to 755,659 units in 2017, rose slightly in 2018, and then continued a downward slide thereafter.
Kia’s Chinese joint venture has seen a similar, if less pronounced, downward trajectory, while the Genesis brand was launched in China in 2021 and still has a niche presence in a market where it currently offers only the G80, G90, GV70 and GV80.
Maeli Business Newspaper attributes Hyundai’s sales slide in large part to South Korea receiving the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in 2017.
The Hyundai Motor Company is no stranger to developing vehicles for the Chinese market, some of which end up being exported to other countries.
It currently builds the Custo people mover there, while other Chinese-market Hyundais have included the Lafesta and Mistra sedans.
It recently developed the Elexio for the Chinese market, which was launched here this year as the brand’s first Chinese-built model in Australia.
As an affordable electric SUV, the Elexio reportedly forms another track in the Hyundai Motor Company’s “two-track” strategy for the Chinese market. Hyundai is also planning to “completely reorganise” its Chinese operations this year, and make its three remaining factories there export hubs.
While Genesis’ people mover is yet to be confirmed – let alone confirmed for export to Australia – the luxury people mover segment in Australia is a hive of activity as Chinese brands appear to be hoping they’ll have a halo effect here, as they do in China.
Besides the aforementioned Denza D9, Lexus LM and Zeekr 009, there’s also the GAC M8, with the Xpeng X9 and GWM Wey G9 also due on sale here this year.
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