So what's the price tag for this baby? If it's cheap, it's going to be a big hit.

It looks very nice, well-appointed, and appropriately luxurious, albeit a little bland and uninspiring. In that sense, it will be an ideal competitor to Lexus, Infiniti and Acura.

hyundai: Bold Moves.

I know that's ford's motto, but It works better with hyundai.

@Novaload: I'm interested to see if it will be. Seems to me that the target market is more worried about showing off the brand they drive than actual content. Don't think many VPs of Marketing will score points bragging about their Hyundai.

If I were trying to position it, I would craft a commercial that showed a bunch of posers in high end cars and a "sensible" upscale Hyundai customer. My motto for this car..something like "for people who buy a car for themselves...not for everybody else."

Hyundai...plz mail me mai check k thx bai

I saw a couple of these doing road testing in the Coors Brewery parking lot in Golden, Colorado yesterday. I didn't have my camera, otherwise I'd post pictures. There seem to be a lot of preproduction cars being tested in Colorado during the winter.

@discontinuuity: By "doing road testing" I mean that they were parked outside, and the Hyundai employees were probably on a tour of the brewery to get free beer samples.

I wish our motor industry was this daring.

Well, maybe that's not entirely fair. But wow!

for 30k, hell yes I would buy it. What other +300hp V8 RWD Sedan options do you have? 50 years ago, you couldn't get anything but big stonking American shoeboxes, but today we have our choice of plastic, front wheel drive badge engineered throw away cars. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. I'll buy this car just for the balls of the idea: Make Lexus, Acura, BMW and MB come down of their high horses and put out a reasonably priced car.

@NOVALOAD

from the name.. my guess would be one serpent and an apple (or some other common fruit from the tree of knowledge)!

i hear there's a major discount on the borrego if you promise to cram two of every type of car style into one (oh wait... they've already done their best.. damn)

oh forgot the woman... the evil evil woman who makes the man decide to take a bite of the fruit provided by the serpent.... (wait......... isn't this just saturn all over again, metaphorically speaking???)

why does the engine cover say

V6??

honestly, i like the sedan... but want to make internal combustion love to the coupe... so... yeah i'm hoping prices will be reasonable... being hyundai.. it should be relatively (expectable based on the price) reliable... and pushing the lower ends of US safety standards (which does wonders for handling!!! ((anyone ever drive a mid nineties tiburon Fx? underpowered... but damn... god damn. did they like corners fast!))

and therefore.. affordably fun fun happy times, for the american drivers no?

@BILLSTEWARTX:
i think it has something to do with the engine being a six cylinder layed out in an acute angle, two bank set up.. hence the cylinders/pistons make a v.. and there are six of them... could be wrong.. but that's my guess

@ CHRYSTLUBITSHI: Seriously? Before you decide to take that smarmy sarcasm route, READ THE STORY!!! It's supposed to be a brand new "industry disrupting" RWD Korean luxury fast-mobile. What's the point of rolling out your flagship car with anything but your flagship engine? I was going to ask that as well. Why is there a V6 engine cover with a bunch of V8 engine pictures?

Of course it's bland; the target demo is looking for bland. The Corvette market goes for outward displays of brut testosterone, but luxo sedan buyers want features, reliability, and convenience. Myself, I belong to the second group: my penis is plenty big, thank you, and I spend on my wheels for comfort and convenience, not to attract younger, blonder bed partners.

Maybe Bill Ford can get the Tata guys to take Mercury and Lincoln along with Jaguar and Rover; buy two brands - get two brands for free.

This is what the Lincoln LS should have been.

@TX_law: Amen, and furthermore I wish they'd add a couple more differentials in order to A) add Audi to the list of manufacturers who need a wakeup call, and B) make me want to buy one.

@billstewartx: Because there is a V6 model as well as the V8.

If the V6 has the luxury appointments that the V8 has, the Lexus GS will not have many sales in the U.S.

The difference between this car and Toyota/Lexus is that Toyota then, like now, had the best reputation for reliability. Hyundai has a reliability record that is definitely a cut below Honda and Toyota overall.

Also, with the LS400, Toyota was launching a new luxury brand with the full luxury car buying and support experience.

With the Genesis, you're still driving a Hyundai, with the Hyundai car buying and support experience.

And in my experience, as a Hyundai ages, expect difficult-to-diagnose problems related to the Check Engine light.

I think I like the faux Lexus grille better than the faux Benz grille

Just to add to my last post... This new sedan looks like another generic luxury sedan to me. Yeah it'll be a cheap V8 sedan... so what? You can already buy cheap V8 luxury from Ford, GM and Chrysler.

This car isn't any industry disrupter. For that statement to be true, it would have to have as big an impact as the Toyota Prius or original Chrysler Minivan had.

375 HP V8? So? Lincoln will be coming out with a model with a 415HP Twin Turbo six. And has Hyundai checked gas prices lately? It isn't 1999 anymore.

And put this next to a Chrysler 300 and to me the Chrysler 300 is still the winner.

I think this sedan will cause more problems for the Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon or maybe even the Lincoln Town Car than cars from most established luxury brands.

I think this vehicle will do well and I welcome the introduction of V8 powered RWD sedans, however I find the total amalgamation of all RWD luxury sedan styling elements to be comical. The Lexus, Infinity, BMW, Mercedes styling become alternately apparent as you look at the vehicle from different angles. Couldn't Hyundai have come up with a design of their own?

Coming up with a design of their own would require both money and an imagination using styling, both seem to be lacking in the far east. I'm not saying they're not creative, but vehicle styling doesn't appear to be the thing to pursue.

The orient needs a Harley Earl, at this point.

The Kia XG350, or whatever it was called, the pseudo-Mercedes, was the first car like this from Korea, and it failed.

The Kia SUV, the larger of the two, looks very much like my wife's '02 Lexus RX300. The overall style, the rear quarter panels, parts of the nose...it's all very unimaginative and is obviously copied direcly from Toyota.

We are likely to see the put-all-automotive-styling-in-a-blender-and-hit-'puree' styling from the Koreans for a while. Just 'cause it's sold well on other machines doesn't mean you can take a random selection of styling cues, combine them, and have them turn out as anything likable.

Note to Lexus: SUE!!!!!

The specs look good, but everything else looks terrible.

Kudos to Hyundai for designing two utterly unrefined grills, ripping off and cheapening BMW's tail lights and crafting an overall form that has the vibe of a 2008 Accord, but is just a tad uglier.

The interior looks well-appointed, but...
that center stack is just odd, the steering wheel is a mess, and I'm already getting nervous about where to keep the instruction manual for that knob behind the shifter.

@petersterncan: have you seen the inside of the Chrysler 300C? this definitely has a nicer interior than the 300C... of course, that's a moot point because the next 300 wil probably bow at next year's Detroit show...

Ehh... I like the idea, I like what's under the skin...

But the car looks like a letter that a serial killer pieced together from newspaper clippings. Front end is Camry meets Mercedes grille, the roofline and the C-pillar have been lifted out of an Infiniti G35 sedan, and the rear end is a second generation copy of a Bangle butt via Camry again. Oh yes, and lighting seems to have come from a Peugeot 607.

Is it really that hard to make a car from scratch?

Looks good to me. Lexus in particular needs the competition. They've become lazy and complacent, like the rest of Toyota. I've had great luck with the Sonata, and if this packs as much value as the Sonata vs the Americans, Japanese, and Germans, it will do quite well.

Good point that a Chrysler 300 can go toe-to-toe with this car, including price, and beat it on many counts. Not a category disrupter, then.

The Hyundai dealer experience may be a big obstacle to sales. Buyers in this class expect a little asskissing and a dealership bigger than a quickchange oil franchise.

@thatguy01: Agreed, but this car, at least as far as looks and interior goes, is worlds above(luxury-wise) a 300C, not to mention almost 50 HP more. But the Hemi does look sportier outside.

So how long do you think it will take for someone to stuff the V8 from the sedan into a Genesis coupe? Never thought I'd see a Korean hot rod. Maybe in 20 years when Hyundai buys Ford and these engines show up in junkyards people will be putting them in their carbon fiber '32 Ford replicas.

Puttin' the hoon in Hoon-die! At some point next year some gearhead is going to drop a Tau in a Tiburon and invent the first Korean musclecar.

I just marvel that Hyundai got a V8 to market before Honda.

For whatever reason the american car buyers respond to V8 MUCH FASTER than V6 or 4 Cylinder or hybrid.

and god damn RWD is BACK!

that's just the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hoon talking :]

I can't find anything that confirms that coupes are going to he RWD though :[

@thriftytechie: "ripping off and cheapening BMW's tail lights"

I had always assumed that BMW was riffing on Orient-style in the newer 3-series taillamps anyway, so I guess this is just re-importation? ;)

so if every bottom of the barrel automaker went and built a semi high end sedan, iguess that would be a lot of "disruptions"

Hyundai, go to the principals office.

The sad part is when you compare a 10 year old Hyundai with its disintegrating plastic parts and rattling motor and whirring tranny to a 15 year old Honda with twice as many miles and the Honda is still in good shape with all the button working, parts intact and the drive line functioning to performance level close to when it was new and then you see which automaker has real value.

Hyundai makes a shiny, glitzy new car, but they do not win the quality game in the long run.

I don't see the Genesis as being the "industry disruption" that Hyundai suggests it could be. The styling and interior design is far too distilled and generic to be considered a luxury vehicle. This is a good thing. Hyundai was smart to not attempt any Bangle-like design nonsense. Given that this is a Korean car from a traditionally low-end brand, it would not have been well received. While Hyundai quality is no longer abysmal, it's still very hit-or-miss and the expectations of a car that costs north of $30-40k are much higher than a Sonata. I see this competing with the Buick Lucerne and the Toyota Avalon, and for this whitebread customer, RWD or FWD is of no concern. But seeing how Hyundai is so responsive to what consumers want, this could be the perfect bridge-vehicle for Hyundai to offer a real luxury car. Lexus and BMW should be concerned about the NEXT Hyundai Genesis. Not this one.

True but there are plenty that still buy them based on price.

@cgarison: That's very true, but I see Hyundai stepping up its game. I've driven 2 Hyundais and a Kia. They were all terrible, awful cars to drive and I hated every second being in them. But they are changing and I wouldn't be surprised if one day I actually would consider buying a Hyundai. Maybe... we'll see. I still would rather have a used 300c than this thing, although I will admit, it's getting there.

@lemondriver: You are right. When I was a kid I worked in a grocery store in a very rich area. The people who wanted to look like they had money drove M-B's and Cady's, the people who really had money drove old pickups and Greenbriar vans.

Wow the totally stole the interior of the M45. Look at these two images.

Infinit interior
Hyundai interior

Um, Hyundai, mates.....

What the hell are you doing still badging this as a Hyundai?

It's a nice car!

Potential customers will be put off at the last minute because of the "...but it's a Hyundai" factor.

Make Genesis into a marque and be done with it.

good looking = good looking
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Just look at the new 3er, I mean the new accord.
That Alien looking grill is way cool.

@Rust-MyEnemy: I quite agree, but the Hoon-dai grille looks much nicer than the alien / ribcage grille. Less bling. They just need to come up with a smart Genesis badge to sit in the middle of it.

@dolo54: I was that way with Hyundai too. I hated them. I believe that much has changed in 3 to 5 years since I started hating them. My wife now works for a dealer and we rented a Hyundai Van twice. On one of our trips we put almost 3000 miles on it. I really liked it. Ran great on the freeway, very comforatable and quiet. Its not quite as refined as a Toyota or Honda mini van, but its very close. With no one in the van, it spins the front tires shifting from first to second gear at full throttle. =)
I'm close to considering a Hyundai when I shop for a car...close.