Upstart luxury brand Genesis is set to double the number of its retail locations before the new year.
Three of the new locations will open in October, with the fourth being targeted for an opening before the end of 2021.
All four locations will be what Genesis calls “Test Drive Centres”, a more traditional dealership-type environment than its flagship studios that are located in inner-city locations with high levels of foot traffic.
In Queensland, Genesis will open Test Drive Centres in Brisbane and the Gold Coast in October ahead of the opening of a Brisbane studio in 2022.
This will finally give the brand a brick-and-mortar presence in Queensland, technically its third largest market.
In 2020, Queensland accounted for five per cent of Genesis sales, with 20 per cent in Victoria and the rest in New South Wales.
The company is also opening a Test Drive Centre in Perth ahead of schedule, citing unexpectedly high interest and sales exceeding targets. The company first appointed a full-time Genesis consultant in Perth back in March to facilitate test drives and deliveries.
Genesis launched in Australia with a single studio in Sydney, with COVID-19 delaying the opening of its second studio. That location has since opened in Melbourne.
It has two Test Drive Centres, both located in the greater Sydney area: one in Parramatta, one in Macquarie Park.
COVID-19 lockdowns have affected Genesis sales, though it said last month it was still averaging around two orders per day in the greater Sydney area.
The company was expecting over 100 sales in August 2021 but instead sold only half that, with 24 of those 50 sales being of the GV70.
Genesis is expecting the GV70 to account for over 40 per cent of all local sales, which it’s aiming to triple compared to 2020.
It says it has over 120 GV70 orders awaiting delivery, the majority of these being cars that customers have built to order.
With the brand expected to clock 700 sales by the end of the year, that means Genesis wants the GV70 to log at least 280 sales annually moving forward.
Overall, the brand has already exceeded its 2020 tally with 392 sales against 229. For most of last year, the brand had only two sedans in a market hungry for SUVs and only had a retail presence in one state.
Genesis executives in Australia typically don’t provide sales targets, though the brand’s CEO Jun Heo made headlines late in 2020 with his ambition to eventually reach 10 per cent market share in the luxury segment.
That would mean leapfrogging Lexus to become Australia’s fourth most popular luxury brand. Mr Heo didn’t specify what year he wanted to achieve this by.
Genesis executives say there’s been a fairly even split between conquest sales from rival luxury brands and sales to owners of Hyundai products seeking to upgrade to a luxury brand, while the new SUV models have brought younger buyers – including families – into the fold.
It may bring in different buyers in the first half of next year when it launches its first all-electric vehicles: the GV60, GV70 Electrified, and G80 Electrified.
The company has mooted a revised after-sales package to help ease buyers into electric vehicle ownership. Rivals like Audi and BMW offer features like free charging subscriptions for their electric vehicles.
GV60 
G80 Electrified
The company is also still looking to offer a guaranteed future value program to help attract new customers.
Genesis currently offers one of the more comprehensive after-sales packages of any luxury brand in Australia, with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and free scheduled servicing for the first five years or 75,000km.
Genesis also offers five years of free 24/7 roadside assistance and valet service, where Genesis Concierge Service will pick up your vehicle when it’s due for scheduled servicing and leave you with a Genesis courtesy vehicle provided you’re within 70km of a Genesis retail location.
Prospective buyers can also request a Genesis to be delivered to them for a test drive if they live within 70km of the Melbourne, Brisbane, or Sydney CBDs.
