As many of you guessed, I'm out here on the Southern tip of the Korean peninsula at the behest of the Mechanics who are quite Popular, getting the scoop on the new Hyundai [REDACTED]. While the driving impressions on the new [REDACTED] from the folks at Hyundai (Yes, Hyundai) are embargoed for a bit, there was other news out here from the little automaker that could in the Republic of Korea that is in no way embargoed. A couple of us auto journalistas had the chance to spend some in-car drive time with Dr. Hyun-Soon Lee, President of R&D at the Kimchi Commander of an automaker. First news is that the Genesis and the Genesis Coupe won't be the only BH-platform vehicles produced on the Ulsan assembly lines. In addition to the two RWD-vehicles we've already seen, the boys n' girls at Hyundai are developing an extended-length version of the Genesis sedan — with the product platform designation of "VI" (which does not stand for "Very Immense") for the Korean domestic and Chinese markets.
This new Genesis that's bigger, longer and more uncut by 8" will replace the Equus JS 380 that's currently the car of choice for Hyundai execs. While the Equus is one big mutha-four-door, this new Genesis XL (or whatever) will out-lengthen the ol' and busted exec-mobile by an extra 2". And as we all know, size does matter — and apparently the U.S. market just isn't big enough to warrant those extra 8" of lengthened platform RWD executive hauling power. We'll live. In the meantime, we'll have more over the next four hours after we get a chance to snag dinner with Hyundai's Vice Chairman & CEO D.J. Kim. We hear he spins the records right-round. Also yes, after this post, we're assuming Hyundai probably won't be inviting me back.