Hyundai Still Thinking About Making Genesis a Separate Luxury Brand

Korean carmakers have made impressive progress in the last decade. From below-par products that were chosen by people who wanted a new car and couldn’t afford anything pricier, Hyundai and Kia models quickly become competitive in most segments.

And we're not the only ones who say this; even VW's boss is wondering why his company's products can't match Hyundai’s quality in certain areas.

No matter how good a car is, though, preconceptions die hard. For certain people, the badge on the hood says a lot about not only the car, but themselves as well; no quality survey, iPad manual, road-test review or 10-speed auto transmission is not going to change that in the foreseeable future

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Hyundai Airs Four More Super Bowl XLVI Ads

The onslaught of Super Bowl commercials continues today with four more spots from Hyundai, in addition to the South Korean firm's Veloster Turbo "Cheetah" ad that we showed you earlier today.

From the new spots, the one that stands out the most for us is the "All for One", which is a 60-second commercial that will air just before the big game starts. The ad features almost 200 actual Hyundai team members humming to the sounds of "Gonna Fly Now" from the movie "Rocky, and was filmed at the brand's Montgomery plant in Alabama.

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Video: Lexus IS-F Goes Under the Crusher in California for Street Racing? Not So Fast…

A video showing an if not brand new, a not so old Lexus IS-F V8-powered sports saloon being crushed to death is making the internet rounds today.

The person that uploaded the specific clip says that local police officers in the state of California crushed the vehicle after they confiscated it for illegal racing. We looked around on the web, but we couldn't find any information regarding this claim.

Sounds like a great story but before you rush to accept the Youtube poster's version of the incident, you may want to know that we discovered the same exact video uploaded in December of 2010, but there's no mention of the car being confiscated.

Furthermore, we also found another recent clip of a Hyundai Genesis sedan being destroyed by the same crusher (notice the background and the blue color on the metal structure).

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Video: Why Are Three Kids Riding in the Trunk of a Hyundai Genesis?

Cramming three people inside the trunk of a car sounds like a mafia move, or in a less dramatic scenario, something you world normally expect to see in an impoverished third world country.

Yet the video that follows was allegedly filmed in a bustling city in South Korea. And mind you, we're not talking about a poor-man's mode of transportation but the near luxury Hyundai Genesis sedan (if we're not mistaken, that is).

But the worst thing of all is that it looks like the individuals riding inside the trunk are three young kids. What can you say?

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2012 Hyundai Genesis Sedan Facelift Gains 5.0 V8 R-Spec Variant with 429HP plus Updated GDI V6

As Hyundai continues its ascent to the top, the South Korean automaker-that-could is getting bolder every day. This time the company entered new grounds at the Chicago Auto Show with the unveiling facelifted Genesis sedan that gets a new sporty variant for the for the 2012 model year.

The new model sports the R-Spec moniker and comes with a new 5.0-liter direct injection V8 engine pushing out 429 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 376 lb. ft. of torque at 5,000 rpm, which makes it the company's most powerful series production model ever. The V8 is mated to Hyundai's all-new eight-speed automatic transmission. While the Koreans did not release acceleration figures, Hyundai did say the car's fuel economy is estimated at 16 mpg city and 25 mpg highway.

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Hyundai Preparing New Elantra Coupe, Azera and Genesis R-Spec with 429HP V8

After registering record sales in 2010, Hyundai seems committed to an all-out offensive with the company reportedly planning to launch a coupe version of the 2011 Elantra and the new Azera sedan in the U.S. within the next year or so. According to an Autoweek report, the news was broken at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in San Francisco, where the Korean automaker also showed its dealers a photo of the upcoming coupe.

“They showed us a photo of it and it's gorgeous,” said Doug Fox, a Hyundai dealer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “We weren't expecting that.”

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Hyundai Evaluating the Creation of a Separate Genesis Brand to Compete with Lexus, May Build a BMW 3-Series Rival

If you were wondering what's next on the Hyundai and Kia Group's agenda of world domination, the answer is the addition of a third brand to the firm's portfolio to compete head on with Japan's Lexus and Infiniti, and possibly even Germany's finest, including BMW and Audi.

The luxury arm would most likely be called Genesis and include the South Korean firm's current rear-wheel drive offerings such as the Genesis Sedan and Coupe, plus the soon-to-be-launched onto the American market, Lexus LS-rivaling Equus.

The automaker, which saw its U.S. market share increase by an overly impressive 50 per cent in the past two years, would further enhance the range of the Genesis brand with a compact sports saloon in the likes of BMW's best-selling model, the 3-Series, and a crossover utility vehicle to compete with the Lexus RX 350.

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2011 Hyundai Equus Flagship Starts at $58,900, Includes 5 years Valet Service [+ 60 Photos]

Hyundai's second attempt at the luxury segment after the Genesis, the all-new Equus full-size sedan, will arrive in U.S. showrooms in December with prices set at US$58,900 for the Signature version and US$64,900 for the Ultimate that gets all the bells and whistles, the South Korean automaker announced today.

Both prices include a $900 destination charge as well as free maintenance for 5 years or 60,000 miles, a complimentary valet service which includes a dealership employee picking up and delivering the car for maintenance, and an iPad that replaces the traditional owner's manual.

Not surprisingly, the Equus is priced much lower than other entry-level proposals in the in the luxury full-size sedan segment such as the Mercedes S-Class [S400 295HP V6 Hybrid $91,000], BMW 7-Series [740i 315HP six-cylinder $70,650] and the Jaguar XJ [385HP 5.0L V8 $72,700] and Lexus LS [LS 460 380HP 4.6L V8 $65,380].

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Hyundai to Treat Equus Customers Like Royalty

Hyundai, the South Korean automaker-that-could, plans to offer more personalized service and deliver the royal treatment to owners of its upcoming $50,000+ Equus luxury sedan that will slot above the Genesis in the firm's U.S. lineup.

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SCOOP: 2011 Hyundai Genesis Sedan Receives Minor Updates, Including BMW-Like Gearshifter

The Genesis sedan has only been out in the market for two years, but Hyundai is getting ready to present the 2011MY with some barely noticeable styling upgrades in its home market.

Scooped here in South Korea completely undisguised, the 2011 Genesis sedan appears to get a reworked front bumper with newly styled air ducts and trim, more prominent side skirts, a chunkier chrome strip above the license plate and a new rear bumper with reshaped exhaust tips.

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VIDEO: Rhys Millen's 775HP Hyundai Genesis PM850 Pikes Peak Racer in Action

Back in April, we shared the first details on Rhys Millen's Hyundai Genesis PM850 racer that will compete in this year's Pike Peak Hill Climb on Sunday, June 27. Now it's time to give you a taste of the insane race car in action during testing.

The Genesis PM850 is motivated by a heavily modified Hyundai Lambda V6 engine bored out to 4.1 liters and fitted with an HKS turbocharger, intercooler, and a unique exhaust system for a total output of 775HP and 750 lb-ft of torque. All that power is sent to all four wheels through a Weismann semi-automatic AWD transmission. Hit the jump to watch the two videos.

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