Hyundai will enter the premium market with a new global brand built around its Genesis sedan, Reuters reports.
The report comes as Hyundai is planning unspecified news at a conference to be held tomorrow in Seoul.
Hyundai has sold for seven years well-reviewed luxury-leaning models, including the first- and second-generation Genesis mid-large luxury sedans and the Equus large luxury 4-door.
The South Korean automaker has discussed multiple times the possibility of its own luxury marque, telling media in 2008 the cost of such a venture was a prohibitive-at-the-time $2.5 billion.
But it continued to study the idea of a standalone premium brand, with Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski telling WardsAuto in January 2014 that the more luxurious second-generation Genesis sedan “doesn’t change our conversation (about a premium brand), but we continue to have the conversation.”
In an effort to rein in costs, Reuters says Hyundai will retail models from the new brand through its existing Hyundai dealers. It already has been sectioning off the Genesis and Equus within Hyundai U.S. stores as part of a showroom-within-a-showroom setup.
Reuters says the Equus will be renamed as part of the new brand, and there will be a new CUV based on the Genesis platform, something Hyundai had discussed as early as the release of the Genesis coupe in 2009.
“I would say stay tuned for future details on a potential premium crossover,” former HMA CEO John Krafcik told WardsAuto at a 2012 media event.
The new Genesis-based CUV reportedly will arrive in 2019.
