Hyundai Motor chairman pushes G90 in American visit

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Hyundai Motor chairman pushes G90 in American visit

Published: 05 Sep. 2016, 21:16

Chung Mong-koo

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo left for the United States and Mexico on Monday to check out the market and sales strategies ahead of the launch of G90 luxury model in the United States. His business trip comes a month after he travelled to Russia and Europe.

Hyundai Motor unveiled G80 last month in the United States and is scheduled to take the wraps off G90, which stands at the top of the Genesis premium lineup, by the end of this month. The G80, renamed from the Genesis sedan with a facelift, carries a price tag of $41,400 in the United States, $2,650 more expensive than the previous model.

The G90 flagship, which goes by the name EQ900 in Korea, is set to compete against the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Coming in two models - 3.3 liters and 5 liters - its price will start at $68,100. Hyundai wants to foster the Genesis brand into a stand-alone premium brand like Toyota Motor’s Lexus.

The chairman is poised to emphasize to workers at the U.S. operation the importance of ramping up high-end, eco-friendly vehicles and sport utility vehicles in the key auto market, Hyundai said.

The United States is the second-largest market for Hyundai, after China. The nation’s No. 1 automaker and its affiliate Kia Motors sold a combined 964,000 vehicles in the first eight months of this year, posting 2.5 percent year-on-year growth. The two automakers under the same umbrella accounted for 8.3 percent of sales in the U.S. automotive market, up 0.2 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.

After wrapping up his itinerary in Los Angeles on Friday, Chung is scheduled to travel to the state of Nuevo Leon in Mexico to celebrate completion of Kia Motors’ Mexico factory, the automaker’s fourth manufacturing facility.