QOTD: How Do You Manage the North American Hyundai-Genesis-Kia Triumvirate?
Yesterday, TTAC covered news of the launch of a second-generation K900 model in the United States at the upcoming New York International Auto Show and Mobility Conference. Upon considering the K900 and its potential for success, some questions arose about the three different badges on offer from the Hyundai-Kia conglomerate, and what we might do with them.
Where does Hyundai go from here?
This question of branding was spurred on and expanded by a tweet from an Internet Person, who suggested Kia needed a luxury brand with which to offer high-end models like the K900 and Stinger — a Genesis of its own. That would leave Hyundai-Kia with four brands on North American shores, all vying for their own slices of the sales pie. Does a fourth marque make sense? Would Kia have better success with a separate luxury brand?
Or are three brands just the right amount? One might argue that luxury offerings from Genesis allow Hyundai to venture into the higher end of the market, picking up sales it would otherwise miss, utilizing luxury entries which have their main established sales base in South Korea. The Kia brand is then free to offer different, alternative-type vehicles (Stinger, Soul), albeit without the same level of clout as Genesis. This doesn’t seem like a long-term answer, for both market expansion and volume reasons.
Perhaps a culling is in order. All offerings from Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia are variants of the same thing — a body style here and a platform there, utilizing the same components across brands. The argument could be made for some kind of a merger, Datsun-Nissan style. All Hyundai and standard Kia vehicles are merged into Hyundai. The remaining Genesis lineup receives any formerly Kia vehicles which are over a certain price point. Consolidate dealers, make the product offerings simpler, save Hyundai money at the end of the day. Any enthusiasts of Kia quickly convert to Hyundai enthusiasm.
Expansion, continuation, or contraction: which is best for Hyundai-Genesis-Kia?
[Image: Kia/Genesis]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Ford is concentrating on SUVs and Trucks because they can no longer compete with nimble companies like KIA. It did not take long for the Korean automakers to surpass Detroit.
This is easy. Hyundai is Chevy. Focus on the CUVs and basic cars. They're for people who don't care about cars. Kia is Pontiac. Still a Chevy but a little more flavor. Focus on the Soul - it sells and is pretty much the only car out of Korea with any flavor at all. Genesis is Cadillac. Need to get the Escalade on line quickly or it's never gonna work.