Hyundai is on the brink of instituting an $80 million advertising campain in the United States for its new Genesis sedan, although the forthcoming saloon has already managed to accumulate 700 sales. Hyundai is anticipating just over 30,000 Genesis sales annually in the U.S., a modest amount in comparison to other models. Executives at Hyundai hope for the Genesis to be Hyundai’s flagship model, and to draw customers to showrooms. The Genesis will be offered in both V6 and V8 garb, and is expected to cost btween $30,000-$40,000.

Half of the $80 million set aside for advertising will be spent on television advertising, $4 million of which has been spent of Super Bowl commercials alone. The other $40 million is intended to be spent on internet and grass-roots advertisement. Hyundai’s vice-president, Joel Ewanick, has revealed that during the first month of pre-sales, Hyundai dealers have taken 700 orders and more than 20,000 consumers have expressed interest in the Genesis.

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Post tags: Genesis, Hyundai, presales

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Say goodbye to Hyundai’s sporty run at the sporty tuner market, for now at least. Auto News (requires subscription) reported yesterday that, even though it was just redesigned last year, this will be the last year of production for the Tiburon.

Alas, all is not yet lost Korean car fans! While Hyundai is atimate the Tiburon isn’t being replaced, it will be succeeded by Hyundai’s new rear-wheel-drive Genesis coupe set to go on sale next spring (coincidentally the same time the Tiburon bites the dust).

“We are seriously looking at a small front-wheel-drive coupe to replace the Tiburon, but I can’t say when that will happen,” said John Krafcik, the product development vice president for Hyundai Motor America.

The news isn’t suprising really, while the Tiburon was initially launched to shed the stereotype that Hyundai was in touch with the younger generation and could provide something other than boring econo-boxes, sales were down nearly 29% for the first quarter of this year to just 2,071 units. Proof that it is nearly impossible to manufacture value priced cars at low sales volumes, even if it’s built in Asia.

© mdvaldosta for Modded Autos, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hyundai, rip, tiburon

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