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Hyundai and Kia had massive 2019s. The spectacular Kia Telluride took home all the awards, including the World Car of the Year. The Hyundai Motor Group as a whole racked up Kelley Blue Book best value awards and IIHS Top Safety Pick nods. 2020 could be the year Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis, steps to the forefront. Pivotal to that success will be the new second-generation G80 sedan, which goes on sale this summer.
We already knew how great the Genesis G80 looked. Now, Genesis has announced the pricing, which will undercut much of the competition. The base model 2.5T Standard trim with a 300-horsepower turbocharged inline-four and rear-wheel-drive will start at $47,700. The upgraded 3.5T Standard trim with a 375-hp turbo V6 and RWD will begin at $59,100. The top tier 3.5T Prestige all-wheel-drive trim will go for $67,650.
Those prices should scare the competition. BMW with the 5 Series, Mercedes with the E-Class, and Audi with the A6 benchmark against each other, almost exactly. The BMW and Merc start almost precisely at $54,000. The Audi is $900 more expensive at $54,900 but comes with AWD. Base models for the 5 Series and the A6 put out 248 horsepower. The base E-Class chimes in with 255 hp.
The Genesis G80 base model puts out 50 more horsepower and has a starting MSRP more than $6,000 cheaper than those German heavyweights. For the same price (or slightly more than the German base models, you’ll be able to bump a G80 up to a V6 with 375 horsepower. Oh, and the G80 looks fancier than either of those cars as well. The G80 should be a great value play, which has been the root of Hyundai and Kia’s recent success.
Now, you may be thinking: “Hey, midsize sedans, so what?” Well, the scarier part for the manufacturers mentioned above may be that Genesis also has an equally impressive GV80 SUV coming out, and it already has Chrissy Teigen’s stamp of approval.
