Rich rate Hyundai equal to Audi
Discussion
The long and the short of it is that "disgustingly wealthy Americans prefer this to an Audi (or Bentley, in fact)."
Do you think this could happen here in the UK?
P.S Search didn't bring up any threads, so apologies if it's a pearoast.
Wheels24 article said:
When you think Hyundai the associated image is of dependable, value for money, motoring.
The brand’s success (Hyundai is the world’s fastest-growing automaker) is generally equated with its ability to attract buyers seeking value.
When you think premium or luxury motoring, Hyundai doesn’t really register – now does it? Well, perhaps it's time to alter that perception...
Hyundai America's boss, John Krafcik, released fascinating data to the media on July 12 illustrating that the income profile of Hyundai customers – and the details are rather counter-intuitive.
IF MONEY IS NO OBJECT...
According to information gleaned from American Express, it's Centurion Card-holders (those offered the distinguished plastic money brand’s "Black Card") are rather keen on Hyundais. When polled, American Express Centurions, unsurprisingly, revealed that BMW was their preferred brand (at 22%), followed by Porsche (15%), Lexus (11%, and always a strong contender Stateside), Ferrari (8%) and Honda’s luxury brand, Acura (7%). Hyundai? It’s (amazingly) tied with Bentley and Audi at 6%.
"I know y'all can’t believe this," Krafcik said during his presentation at Hyundai’s American engineering and research centre near Ann Arbor, Michigan.
To understand just how significant the 6% purchasing statistic is, considering what the average American Express Centurion member is worth. Total assets, according to American Express, round-off to R100-million, with annual household income tallying a very neat R8-million. Suffice to say, if you're an American Express Centurion, your automotive purchases are hardly discretionary…
THE GENESIS OF IT ALL
Why then, if these rather wealthy individuals (who are extended a virtually limitless line of credit) can buy any car they wish, do 6% of them buy Hyundai? First off, it’s worth remembering that in North American the Hyundai product offering is a little broader than South Africa. The model responsible for Hyundai’s presence on American Express’s research data set is the Genesis. Available as either a two-door coupe or four-door hatch, 5 Series sized luxury sedan, Genesis is as far removed from your Getz-addled perception of the Hyundai as possible.
Launched back in 2008, market analysis initially doubted if a Hyundai could compete with the likes of Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the premium segment and American muscle cars such as Camaro and Mustang in two-door configuration. Their scepticism was (thoroughly) unfounded.
The Genesis retails with sufficient momentum to top the 30 000-unit sales barrier for 2011 and the brand is entrenched in two-door form (thanks in no small part to Rhys Millen’s drifting antics) and as a luxury sedan – the latter fact indicating that Hyundai’s very much "done-a-Lexus" and established a luxury brand presence with little or no heritage to leverage off.
ONLY WEAKNESS
Having added a performance derivative of the Genesis sedan, in R-specification (powered by a 315kW, five-litre V8 of its own design) Hyundai’s luxury nameplate’s appeal is sure to become even stronger.
The only weakness in Genesis’s model line-up is the lack of an all-wheel drive model; crucial to American buyers who live in the country’s north-eastern region, due the severity of winter snowfall, which requires all-wheel drive traction security – offering by nearly 70% of the Genesis’s rivals. Hyundai says it’s working on the issue and expects to roll-out an all-wheel drive Genesis sedan by early 2012.
With the hugely successful Genesis now supported by Hyundai’s burgeoning S-Class killer, the Equus (since late 2010), the curiously named Korean luxury cars are slowly become the alternative brand for those who are customarily observed to have more money than sense. The lesson? Next time you get upgraded to business class and your fellow passenger asks what you drive, it’s no longer embarrassing to admit it’s a Getz…
link hereThe brand’s success (Hyundai is the world’s fastest-growing automaker) is generally equated with its ability to attract buyers seeking value.
When you think premium or luxury motoring, Hyundai doesn’t really register – now does it? Well, perhaps it's time to alter that perception...
Hyundai America's boss, John Krafcik, released fascinating data to the media on July 12 illustrating that the income profile of Hyundai customers – and the details are rather counter-intuitive.
IF MONEY IS NO OBJECT...
According to information gleaned from American Express, it's Centurion Card-holders (those offered the distinguished plastic money brand’s "Black Card") are rather keen on Hyundais. When polled, American Express Centurions, unsurprisingly, revealed that BMW was their preferred brand (at 22%), followed by Porsche (15%), Lexus (11%, and always a strong contender Stateside), Ferrari (8%) and Honda’s luxury brand, Acura (7%). Hyundai? It’s (amazingly) tied with Bentley and Audi at 6%.
"I know y'all can’t believe this," Krafcik said during his presentation at Hyundai’s American engineering and research centre near Ann Arbor, Michigan.
To understand just how significant the 6% purchasing statistic is, considering what the average American Express Centurion member is worth. Total assets, according to American Express, round-off to R100-million, with annual household income tallying a very neat R8-million. Suffice to say, if you're an American Express Centurion, your automotive purchases are hardly discretionary…
THE GENESIS OF IT ALL
Why then, if these rather wealthy individuals (who are extended a virtually limitless line of credit) can buy any car they wish, do 6% of them buy Hyundai? First off, it’s worth remembering that in North American the Hyundai product offering is a little broader than South Africa. The model responsible for Hyundai’s presence on American Express’s research data set is the Genesis. Available as either a two-door coupe or four-door hatch, 5 Series sized luxury sedan, Genesis is as far removed from your Getz-addled perception of the Hyundai as possible.
Launched back in 2008, market analysis initially doubted if a Hyundai could compete with the likes of Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the premium segment and American muscle cars such as Camaro and Mustang in two-door configuration. Their scepticism was (thoroughly) unfounded.
The Genesis retails with sufficient momentum to top the 30 000-unit sales barrier for 2011 and the brand is entrenched in two-door form (thanks in no small part to Rhys Millen’s drifting antics) and as a luxury sedan – the latter fact indicating that Hyundai’s very much "done-a-Lexus" and established a luxury brand presence with little or no heritage to leverage off.
ONLY WEAKNESS
Having added a performance derivative of the Genesis sedan, in R-specification (powered by a 315kW, five-litre V8 of its own design) Hyundai’s luxury nameplate’s appeal is sure to become even stronger.
The only weakness in Genesis’s model line-up is the lack of an all-wheel drive model; crucial to American buyers who live in the country’s north-eastern region, due the severity of winter snowfall, which requires all-wheel drive traction security – offering by nearly 70% of the Genesis’s rivals. Hyundai says it’s working on the issue and expects to roll-out an all-wheel drive Genesis sedan by early 2012.
With the hugely successful Genesis now supported by Hyundai’s burgeoning S-Class killer, the Equus (since late 2010), the curiously named Korean luxury cars are slowly become the alternative brand for those who are customarily observed to have more money than sense. The lesson? Next time you get upgraded to business class and your fellow passenger asks what you drive, it’s no longer embarrassing to admit it’s a Getz…
Do you think this could happen here in the UK?
P.S Search didn't bring up any threads, so apologies if it's a pearoast.
Edited by Pints on Thursday 14th July 08:09
Pints said:
Do you think this could happen here in the UK?
Well, at least one PistonHeader agrees with them... on a recent thread he said:
I would never, and I mean never, buy a VAG group car
and when pressed on what he would buy in preference said:
Hyundai have a very nice range of cars here that are a little different. The new Elantra for example is very pretty.
I promised I'd take his advice and buy one at the earliest opportunity....but I may have had my fingers crossed at the time
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff