Genesis Launches Small Executive Sport Sedan G70 To Take On BMW 3-Series & Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Japanese car brands wanted to take on the Euro’s by launching sub-luxe brands from their factories. Toyota successfully launched Lexus, whilst Mazda with their Eunos and Nissan with Infiniti didn’t do so well here in Australia and exited the market.

Fast forward to 2012 and Nissan has re-entered the market with Infiniti for the second time. Despite a couple of their dealers closing it appears they are hanging in there, although with sales trailing behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz our fingers are crossed new models on the way will ignite the customer’s interest.   

Now it is Hyundai’s turn with their luxe brand Genesis.

The South Korean car maker has been bringing the Genesis sedan here since 2014 with mild sales success, mainly with the limousine hire service industry snapping them up. Now with the launch of their new prestige brand, the large sedan will be renamed the G80. Think Holden Statesman in size and luxury- a very luxurious saloon to sit in the rear of with acres of leather and wood veneer.

Following this year will be the very important small exec G70 sport sedan, designed to take on the current leaders in the small exec sedan market - BMW 3-Series and Merc C-Class. The G70 is a compact luxury sedan that should provide the brand sales with volume. With rear wheel drive and powerful engines to take on the Germans, the lead model is a 3.3 litre, 24 valve, quad cam, direct injection, twin turbo V6 petrol engine, producing 272 kW of dynamic power.

Tech features complementing the new model include Brembo high performance brakes and technologies you expect such as Head-Up-Display, 8” High Definition screen, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and wireless smartphone charging.

One thing for sure is that options you would pay thousands for on BMW and Mercedes models, will be most likely standard features on Genesis vehicles.

In the style department, we are loving what we’ve seen to date. Dare we say, hints of Lexus IS is seen in the rear, which we are a fan of.

Expect an SUV to also join the model line-up, the GV80, which is currently in concept form, we read that this could be an electric vehicle.

Looks like exciting products are being lined up for Genesis, how they do against the current luxury brigade is what we will wait and see!