Genesis reaches 1 million car milestone eight years after birth

Just shy of its eighth birthday, Hyundai’s luxury marque Genesis has sold its millionth car.

According to Hyundai, 1,008,804 Genesis vehicles have been sold globally since its establishment as an independent brand in November 2015 through to the end of August 2023.

The brand’s run rate has improved in recent years, with Genesis breaking through the half-million sales barrier in May 2021 and only requiring a shade over two years to notch up its second half-million.

2017 G90

Almost 70 per cent (690,177 cars) of the marque’s sales are thanks to the South Korean domestic market, with much of remainder accounted for by the United States, where 224,646 have been sold so far.

Stateside, Genesis finished 2022 with 56,198 sales, putting it ahead of Nissan’s Infiniti (46,616), Rivian(13,699), Alfa Romeo (12,843), Jaguar (9,668), Polestar (6960), and Lucid (1949).

The brand still has a way to go to before it can overtake the Germans, with Mercedes-Benz (342,887) and BMW (331,543) leading the mass market luxury field followed by Lexus (258,434), Audi (177,869), Cadillac (134,707), Acura (102,306), Volvo (101,977), Lincoln (83,486), and Porsche (70,036).

2022 G90

Closer to home, Genesis has sold 2150 cars in Australia since its local launch in 2017 until the end of 2022. Sales have been growing in recent years, with 103 sold in 2019 and 1039 finding new homes in 2022.

In 2022, Genesis outsold Jaguar (700), Alfa Romeo (571), Maserati (594), Bentley (203), Ferrari (203), Lamborghini (176), Aston Martin (132), and Rolls-Royce (60).

There’s still a large amount of daylight to the German marques which lead the luxury race in Australia: Mercedes-Benz cars (26,801), and BMW (22,696), which are followed by Tesla (19,594), Audi (14,732), Lexus (7089), Land Rover (4384), and Polestar (1524).

2021 G70

The Genesis brand was spun off from Hyundai in late 2015, and its first product was the flagship G90 sedan, a replacement for the Hyundai Equus.

It’s the company’s middle sedan, the G80 sedan — which started life as a rechristened Hyundai Genesis — that has proven to be its most model popular, with 390,738 sold so far.

It wasn’t until 2020 that Genesis expanded its range and finally released its first crossover, the GV80, which was quickly followed up by the smaller GV70.

It’s these two models that have shifted Genesis sales into another gear, with the GV80 notching up 173,882 sales to-date, and the GV70 adding a further 160,965.

Together the G80, GV80 and GV70 account for almost 72 per cent of all Genesis sales so far. It’s probably safe to assume the bulk of the remainder (around 280,000 cars) are G70 sedans and wagons.