This is the Hyundai Genesis; a statement that on its own begs yet more questions, like a 'what now?’ and ‘why would I?’
So, let’s take a step back to frame the Genesis. Assume for a moment you’ve got the best part of 50 grand in your pocket (or, more likely, £600 a month), and that you’re looking for an executive car.
You have the choice of the traditional executive players: Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar, BMW, Lexus or Volvo, or perhaps Land Rover or Porsche if you fancy an SUV.
You might be odd enough to think about an Infiniti, or heck, for less than £50,000 these days you could even buy a Maserati.
But just for a moment, let’s pretend too that you don’t care about carbon dioxide emissions, so a powerful diesel or a small turbo petrol engine are not necessarily for you. Nope, owning a saloon with a CO2 figure that’s north of a Ferrari California's is just dandy.
You could have a Hyundai Genesis. ‘Tough sell’ doesn’t even begin to cover it, does it?
Hyunda's executive car is now in its second generation, although a third generation - the G90 is earmarked. It’ll reach the UK with a steering wheel on the correct side and is priced from £50,000.
Hyundai won’t say how many it expects to sell. This always means the same thing: not very many. If you want one of these 4990mm long, 3.8-litre petrol engined cars in the UK, you will have to visit one of seven specially selected dealers. (If you end up routinely driving a Genesis, we suspect there’s a very good chance you’ll work at one of them.} As it stands there are only six currently offering test drives of the Genesis - Bristol Street Motors Nottingham, East London Hyundai in Romford, Johnsons in Coventry, Edinburgh East's Macklin Motors, Richmond Hyundai in Guildford and Vantage Hyundai based in Stockport.
Geneses are being specifically tweaked for the UK market, which must rank as a fairly extraordinary outlay given the potential return.
Hyundai might not be serious about selling vast quantities of the Genesis in Europe, then, but it is utterly serious about what this car stands for. It’s meant to get you used to the idea that a Hyundai can have high levels of interior craftsmanship, so that you don’t have to stifle a giggle when you first spot there’s wood, aluminium and leather on display.