Yes, they're serious and no, this isn't an early April Fool. Hyundai wants a piece of Lexus and this car, the Concept Genesis, complete with rear wheel drive and a 4.6-litre V8 engine.
It may be officially only a concept for the moment, but this car will appear in Hyundai dealerships in the US and Europe next year, and the Koreans are deadly serious about taking on the luxury car Mafia.
As yet, there is no clear indication as to how the car will be priced (although we'd expect it to be mid-way between a BMW 5 and 7 Series) nor even if it will be imported to Ireland at all. It's a tiny slice of the market, and Hyundai Ireland might rightly feel that a car like this will just confuse people who came in looking for an accent.
It's also not clear if the Genesis name will carry through to production, but with Hyundai having just announced a new naming policy, based around the i30 hatchback, it may well be called i70 or i80, at least in Europe.
It certainly looks good, and the mechanical specification is spot-on, but it remains to be seen just how much Hyundai can prosper in this rarefied atmosphere. After all, even Jaguar, which has one of the most evocative names in the business is struggling, VW can't shift any Phaetons and Lexus, although profitable and successful, still only sells in tiny volumes in Europe, compared to Mercedes and BMW.
Still, considering how far Hyundai has come from its bargain-bucket roots, would you bet against them?
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