The status of Japanese cars in the US is practically religious. Obviously, we're talking about Toyota and Honda, but even B-list brands like Mazda and Subaru have iron-clad, cult-like fan bases. On the flip side, Hyundai was the "poster child for cheap crap" for a long time. (Think Dacia in Europe). They sold their first US passenger car, the Excel, for half the price of a Toyota (seriously, dead real). Quality issues blew up before they even expanded their service network, and they were essentially forced out. Then they re-entered the US market with the insane ultimate move: the '10-year warranty'—and that's when they finally started to find their footing.
But still, the 'cheap crap' image never really left. If you check out US media, the car driven by poor immigrants or sketchy groups is always a Hyundai, and there are countless mocking memes. They barely survived because the 'Elantra' (Avante) worked, allowing them to focus on the compact car lineup—a segment US and Japanese rivals didn't pay much attention to—and they managed to steal share from the lower-income US demographic and younger crowds. That's how they held on. Then the US market changed fast, and Hyundai caught a major tailwind. The SUV golden age began. Japanese rivals responded way too slowly. Hyundai quickly deployed its cash cow and best-seller, the 'Tucson,' followed by the Santa Fe. This absolutely crushed it. Finally, selling 'money-making cars' seriously boosted profitability, and good quality ratings helped gradually fix the image. Even so, HyuKia still played in different segments than the US/Japanese big guns. They hadn't broken into the mid-size and larger family car market. Then came the 'stroke of genius': the Palisade (Telluride). This massively expanded HyuKia's horizon and was crucial in erasing the cheap reputation. At this point, Hyundai took a huge gamble. They decided to drop Genesis into a market where they couldn't even successfully sell the Grandeur (Azera). Since they skipped the necessary steps, it obviously didn't work, and they suffered like a dog for years. The US luxury market is a 'Three Kingdoms' scenario. Lexus, BMW, and Benz are in the '300K Annual Club.' Lexus and BMW are constantly duking it out, aiming for the 400K club. Below them are Cadillac, Acura (Honda), and Infiniti (Nissan). As Nissan wobbled, Infiniti followed suit. Infiniti used to hold the 'value luxury' spot, and Genesis has scooped up much of the share Infiniti lost. The GV70 was the ultimate MVP (효자 = filial child). Now Hyundai aims to crush Acura. Acura sells around 130K units annually, and Genesis is expected to pass 80K this year. The gap, which was 8x in 2020, has shrunk drastically to about 1.5x. Next year, Hyundai is adding the Genesis Hybrid and beefing up its entire lineup. If this plays out, Genesis is projected to surpass Acura within 2-3 years. Given Honda’s stature in the US, this would be a genuinely revolutionary, game-changing event. And at that point, Hyundai will finally, totally shed the 'cheap car' label it’s been stuck with forever. Of course, they still face major obstacles. Genesis is currently sold out of the corner of Hyundai dealerships without dedicated stores. The dealer network hasn't been properly built up, and the service quality sucks. In the US, luxury dealers need to provide a level of service way above standard dealers, but Genesis dealers are just doing regular car service. They need to fix these problems before they can truly conquer Acura's stronghold.
"We're cheering for Genesis to overtake Acura, but seriously, stop ruining your hard-earned reputation by dropping the ball on visible stuff like peeling paint and poor luxury dealer service. Fix the basics!"
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