Since its local launch in 2019, Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis has stuck with a small but growing network of factory-owned retail locations – something that has limited its geographical and therefore commercial footprint.
Now, it’s altering its strategy to help it get more people into its cars, with its existing factory-owned locations to be joined by showrooms run by what it calls “agency partners”.
These are intended to offer the same customer experience as Genesis-owned ‘Showcases’.
“From a customer-facing perspective, they’ll see no difference on that front. They won’t have any competitive advantages or disadvantages or any differences,” Genesis Motors Australia boss Justin Douglass told CarExpert.
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Don’t expect, then, for Genesis cars to be tucked into a corner of another brand’s showroom.
“You’d find that most dealerships that exist in Australia today have a number of brands that they represent, so we certainly won’t compromise when it comes to our showroom and standards – you won’t see another showroom inside of our showrooms,” said Mr Douglass.
“We’ll be investing with partners that align with our brand values.”
Genesis plans to have one or two agency partner locations in operation, “with space for another one or two in 2026”.
These new locations will be expected to offer the same sales and aftersales experience as other Genesis locations, including fixed pricing, up to five years of complimentary servicing, and Genesis To You.
Genesis To You means that if you live within a 70km driving distance from a Genesis outlet, your vehicle can be picked up and dropped off for servicing and you’ll be left with a courtesy car.
As with other brands that follow the agency model, Genesis will own the vehicles, which will in turn be sold at a fixed price.
“Under the agency model we can still apply that one-price model approach we have, we can still conduct Genesis To You, it’ll be the same offerings, it’ll be mirrored across the entire network whether or not it’s factory-owned or through our agency partners,” said Mr Douglass.
As to why Genesis is changing tack by bringing on these retail partners, the local boss says this will help it grow its sales.
“It’s complementary to our business, so it doesn’t change the strategy that we have in place. We still have our direct-to-consumer, factory-owned outlets which are in place, and as we’ve upgraded and invested in significantly over the past few years,” he said.
“We just know that there are customers that certainly want to access our brand and we believe that by adding a complementary agency partnership to our go-to-market approach, creates opportunity for us.
“We’ve got some potential partners that have put their hand up that are certainly very keen and passionate about the brand and would make great business partners for us.
“And we would have been silly not to consider them considering the customer reach that it gives us, and leveraging a strength that they bring to the brand, and we’re really excited about that expanded footprint that that will bring us over the coming years and help grow that customer base and customer experience.”
Genesis Sydney
The brand is continuing to revamp its existing network of factory-owned stores. It just opened its new Genesis Sydney Showcase, located in North Strathfield, which replaces the old Parramatta Test Drive Centre.
“Our immediate focus when it comes to our factory-owned stores is to make sure that we upgrade all of our stores, so Sydney has just occurred, Osborne Park will be next over in Perth,” said Mr Douglass, noting Genesis is also investing in what it calls “high-tech service centres”.
Genesis operates what it calls Showcases in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
These are more like traditional dealerships, while Genesis also has what it calls Studios – flagship locations situated in areas with high foot-traffic – in both the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs.
Genesis doesn’t currently have any Studios or Showcases in South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory. All up, it has just seven retail locations nationwide.
