Genesis crucial in boosting Hyundai Motor loyalty

Genesis crucial in boosting Hyundai Motor loyalty

Time Stamp: September 5, 2023 4:55 AM
Source Node: 2864852

With the Korean automaker’s product portfolio
expanding, its popularity among repeat buyers is growing –
especially those in the luxury market.

S&P Global
Mobility’s 27th annual Customer Loyalty Awards earlier this
year highlighted Hyundai Motor Group’s leapfrogging of its rival
multi-line automakers into second place – hot on the heels of
perennial front-runner General
Motors. A key reason for Hyundai’s success: Its surging Genesis
luxury brand. And that second-place standing has continued through
the first half of 2023.

In 2015, though the Hyundai and Kia brands’
combined U.S. registrations were strong at 1.39 million, its
customer loyalty was a middling 55.2 percent. The Genesis brand had
just launched, with no SUVs in the lineup. Fast forward to calendar
2022 and not only had Hyundai-Kia U.S. sales increased to 1.45
million – despite pandemic-related shortages affecting all
automakers – you can tack on another 56,140 sales for Genesis. This
combination of brands has resulted in loyalty skyrocketing to 62.3
percent in calendar 2022, while industry average loyalty has fallen
during the recent pandemic period.

Hyundai Motor Group has been able to do this
without a full-size pickup truck that is a traditional loyalty
stronghold, said Vince Palomarez, product management principal for
market reporting with S&P Global Mobility.

When it comes to customer loyalty, the quality
and appeal of cars is a huge factor. However, the breadth and depth
of the product portfolio is equally important. As customers’ needs
change, any brand with enough selection to support that evolution
will find greater success at retaining loyalty. Hyundai Motor Group
is doing so, even though it has only recently moved into areas like
luxury vehicles and the Large SUV segment – segments where rival
Asian automakers have competed for decades.

“By offering Hyundai, Kia, and now Genesis,
Hyundai Motor Group has shown it can attract new owners and keep
them,” said Tom Libby, associate director of loyalty solutions and
industry analysis for S&P Global Mobility. “This opens up more
options for a household that has the means to move up to a luxury
vehicle, to stay within the corporation in a way that did not exist
before Genesis.”

The name “Genesis” first appeared on a Hyundai
product in 2003, on the Concept Genesis, and then was applied to a
production car on the Hyundai Genesis Coupe in 2007. However, the
Genesis brand didn’t appear as a standalone until the 2016 Genesis
G90 sedan, followed by the G70 and G80 sedans, and more recently
the GV60, GV70, and GV80 SUVs – with MSRPs stretching up to $98,700
for the G90 E-Supercharger.

“The credibility and competitiveness of Genesis
has really gone way up, I think partially because of the
competitiveness of the Kia and Hyundai brands,” Libby said.

“You can really see the evolution of this brand
as they’ve sold that initial product, brought those customers in,
and kept improving the quality,” added Palomarez. “The Genesis
brand should only help them going forward, increasing that loyalty
and presence in the industry.”

Add to that existing corporate lineup a series
of compelling EVs across all three brands based on the company’s
E-GMP platform – including the Hyundai Ioniq 6 sedan and the
Genesis GV60 SUV – and Hyundai has the product picture to ensure
its loyalty will stay on the rise.

Can Hyundai Motor Group keep it up? Through the
first half of 2023, Hyundai was still in second place behind GM,
with its loyalty dipping slightly to 60.5%, just a shade ahead of
Ford Motor at 60.4%.

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This article was published by S&P Global Mobility and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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