With Genesis, Hyundai Brings a New Luxury Brand to Town

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A NEW luxury brand is arriving in the United States with two sedans, one of them a repurposed model already available here.

The strategy? Woo upscale buyers with prices so compelling and service so seamless that buying a Mercedes or BMW means practically throwing Benjamins out the window.

Prestige? Heritage? Absolutely none.

That described Lexus, Toyota’s luxury offshoot, in 1989.

In 2016, those words apply to Genesis.

The Genesis name should sound familiar. It has been an upmarket sedan sold by Hyundai. Now, though, Genesis has become the Korean automaker’s luxury brand, spiffing up that car and rechristening it the G80.

May I direct your attention to the new brand’s flagship — the G90.

The G90 has its cross hairs on the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS and Mercedes S-Class. I can attest that the G90 is an exceptionally realized luxury sedan. Most people will never ride in a car this fancy.

Measuring that praise, note that the G90 lacks superfluous gee-gaws like perfumed ventilation and massaging seats that capture the imagination of the moneyed on cars like the 7 Series and S-Class.

Oh, and there are no Genesis dealerships. It will be years before those expensive showrooms are built. For now, you still have to go to the Hyundai lot.

But value buyers with secure egos should have no issues walking past Elantras and Santa Fes at the 350 Hyundai dealerships specifically selected to sell the G90. (All 830 Hyundai dealers can sell the near-luxury G80.) A fully optioned all-wheel-drive V8-powered G90 retails for $73,150 — an alluring contrast to, say, a base in-line-6 rear-drive BMW 7 Series that starts significantly higher, at $82,495.

Buyers, or those who lease, may never return to the Hyundai lot. For servicing, a valet picks the car up at home or work and a loaner is left behind. This pampering and scheduled maintenance is complimentary for the first three years or 36,000 miles.

No ground has been broken with styling. The G90’s exterior design is a derivative mix of the established competitors. But the interior is properly paneled with a small grove of trees and lined in high-quality hides. There is visual and tactile heft here.

Only luxury snobs will notice a couple of Hyundai buttons; door releases where the underside is hollow and a shutdown chime that retains the Hyundai theme (albeit more richly orchestrated).

Features like climate-controlled seats and auto braking with pedestrian detection can’t be added — because they’re all standard.

G90’s only choices, in fact, are these: paint and interior color; rear or all-wheel drive; and engine. I drove a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 model with rear drive at $69,050. With 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque, the engine nearly matches BMW’s buttery in-line 6.

Most buyers won’t need the V8. Silky 8-speed transmission shifts may go unnoticed. Drive modes change transmission and throttle mapping, steering weight and suspension.

On a 340-mile road trip, I saw 25 m.p.g. (the E.P.A. rates my tester at 17 city, 24 highway using premium fuel). Assisted by adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist, I arrived refreshed.

Every glass panel is acoustically laminated. There is enough sound insulation to quiet a house, and a two-piece wheel design forms a hollow chamber that quells road noise. All libraries should be this hushed. That isolation makes listening to Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street” on the Lexicon audio system a magical experience.

The body is impressively stout. An adaptive suspension offers serenity and control with very little body roll in “auto” mode. Even firmed up nicely in “sport” mode, this is not a canyon carver. But then, neither are the competitors.

Everything about the G90 seems double dipped in Teflon. That said, the 7 Series and S Class can feel like they get one more coat.

The rear accommodations coddle executives who are driven, although they will have to provide their own screens. Unlike the BMW 7 Series, there are no LCD displays in back.

A rear armrest console controls climate, sunshades and audio, while letting those in the back move the front passenger seat forward to add legroom.

V8 models add ventilation and a power recline feature to the heated rear chairs. No panoramic roof, though, which is available on a Hyundai Sonata.

Genesis plans six models by 2021, including two sport utility vehicles that will be crucial to the brand’s ability to compete across the full luxury board. By then, it should have stand-alone showrooms, too.

Even though Hyundai built the Equus (the G90 is the spiritual successor to that car), the more established luxury brands benefit from decades of nit-picking, refinement and anticipation of the demands of top-tier buyers. Genesis may need to move quickly up that learning curve.

But like the first Lexus LS 400, clearly G90 offers compelling luxury and value.