Hyundai Motor Co. will introduce a rear-wheel-drive luxury car in the United States in 2007 to test the waters for launching a luxury brand.

Pickups and sports cars are lower priorities for the Korean automaker, Hyundai's Korean executives said during the Seoul motor show here last week.

After launching the luxury car, "We will decide whether or not to launch a separate brand," said Kim Dong Jin, Hyundai's vice chairman and co-CEO.

He said Hyundai has a number of issues to settle. For example, the automaker may offer franchises in a new brand only to existing Hyundai dealers, or to dealers who currently do not sell Hyundais.

Kim says a luxury car is a "higher priority" for Hyundai than a pickup. A luxury car would "improve our brand image" in ways that a pickup would not, he says.

But U.S. executives have stressed repeatedly that they would prefer to get a large pickup before luxury vehicles. Hyundai Motor hopes to sell 1 million units annually in the United States in 2010. Hyundai and affiliate Kia sold a total of 688,670 units in the United States in 2004.

Hyundai sells no rear-drive car now.

A spate of upcoming vehicle redesigns should succeed in building up the Hyundai image, "then naturally, a customer wants a luxury car from Hyundai," said Brandon Yea, director of the marketing strategy team in the Hyundai and Kia corporate marketing division. "That's when we'll launch a luxury brand."

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102292

I dunno about this. I think they should wait and see how well the new Azera sells before they jump in with a full-fledged luxury car.

 

I'd agree that a luxury car or an entire luxury brand is still premature. Hyundai has made amazing strides in quality in the past few years, but it's still largely viewed as a value brand. I'd rather see them stabilize and grow the Hyundai and Kia brands, like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan did, before jumping onto the luxury bandwagon.

 

They should take a lesson from VW and learn from their experiences with trying to sell a big luxo sedan. Granted, this Hyundai will probably be more like the 300C than the Phaeton.

Is this car going to be based on the Hyundai Eqqus?

 

i agree with their reasoning. i think that they need to create a brand that separates them from the name hyundai because alot of people view hyundai as a value brand that is just that and not a major competitor. i think they could re-invent their image through a new name and show off all the strides they've made.

i can tell you how many times i've heard something along the lines of "but it's a hyundai, so" or "it's just a hyundai" or something like that.

they might even be able to pull a honda/acura thing using the tibouron as a base for a 2 door luxury coupe in the rsx price range that has a lil more power than the current tib.

 

Yeah, the Azera is simply a stop on "the way up."

 

They should call it, if it should ever come out, "Not-really-Jaguar."

Hyundai is good, but that's because they are (still somewhat) good for their pricing. They shouldn't get too excited. Remember what they are: a cheap and affordable alternative to Honda and Camry.

 

Well hey, Hyundai is stepping up their game, particularly with powertrains. The new Sonata matches Accord and Camry for engine choices, and the Azera has plenty of power as well although it gets there with a bit more displacement. They've already moved well past Detroit, that's for sure. Hell, even Daewoo is moving up--they're going to be supplying a good deal of GM's small cars all over the world.

You have to remember that the Korean companies got a late start to the car game. They've still got some catching up to do to be on par with the likes of Honda and Toyota. But if you look at the electronics business, companies like Samsung and LG are huge powerhouses even in premium segments whereas 10 years ago if you said to someone, "hey check out my kickass new Samsung TV," they'd a been like, "Sam-huh?". I think the folks back at home base are being a bit overambitious with wanting to hop up to the luxury market sooner rather than later, but the people running their US operations aren't stupid and I think they will try and delay that until a more opportune moment.

 

Yup... we don't need another episode of Phaeton.

 

Hey, I have a thing for RWD...I'd be really interested in seeing this. I'm sure they're not shooting for Phaeton-level stuff here...I agree that it would probably do well to compete against the 300. I think it's safe to say Hyundai doesn't suck anymore, but they just might want to wait a few more years before doing this.