Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand could be locally assembled to avert the high taxes involved in fully importing the models and price them competitively
Speculations surrounding Hyundai’s luxury arm Genesis’ entry into India have existed for many years. Now more information has emerged on the internet courtesy of a report on ET Auto. It appears that Hyundai India is looking to locally assembly the Genesis branded cars at its production facilities to price the models competitively.
The Genesis lineup will take on Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo cars. The German trio have been successful in the domestic market due to their local assembly operations as their products do not have to endure the high taxes involved in fully importing them. It looks like Genesis might follow the same route upon its arrival.
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Unsoo Kim believes that Genesis will have good customer interest due to its unique appeal compared to its competitors. He said, “Genesis is a relatively new luxury brand and offers a different type of luxury. We will develop that concept in India with design and electrification,”
The Genesis brand was officially announced as an independent luxury carmaker in late 2015 and launched its first standalone model, the Genesis G90 in 2017. It has grown leaps and bounds in recent years due to the popularity of the latest line of offerings especially the G80, GV70 and GV80. More recently, the South Korean brand unveiled the electrified version of the GV70.
The report went on to say that the Genesis brand could not get the green light for India due to economical reasons and the health crisis that shook the entire country. However, the market has been making swift progress and luxury vehicle sales are on the rise. In 2023, the segment will hit the highest volumes in a CY and Genesis will have an eye out for further growth.
Kim has confirmed that the debut of Genesis may not happen this year and thus we can expect it to happen in the near future as it is a temptation too hard to resist.