Sorry, I don’t know what trolling is exactly - I’m relatively new to the forum. What have I done to offend?
Hayek Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sorry, I don’t know what trolling is exactly - I’m relatively new to the forum. What have I done to offend? There’s two ways to respond - before proceeding, it’s important we know if your first name is Salma?
Hayek Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hyundai could likely carve out a nice little niche > for itself as a very affordable foreign > manufacturer of entry level cars, but pushing > their price up over 50K is silly. You can pick up > an Audi, BMW, or Merc for that price and I will > laugh at anyone who spends that kind of money on a > korean badge. > The Equus is intended to compete with the A8, the 7 Series, and the S Class, and according to newcartestdrive.com it does a very good job of it. You can’t pick up any of those 3 for anything close to the price of the Equus. I don’t think it will sell particularly well in the US because of the brand image at this point in time, but in many ways it is like getting an S Class but only paying for an E class.
LPoulin133 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hayek Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > > There’s two ways to respond - before proceeding, > it’s important we know if your first name is > Salma? Can’t be, no accent.
higgmond Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hayek Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Hyundai could likely carve out a nice little > niche > > for itself as a very affordable foreign > > manufacturer of entry level cars, but pushing > > their price up over 50K is silly. You can pick > up > > an Audi, BMW, or Merc for that price and I will > > laugh at anyone who spends that kind of money on > a > > korean badge. > > > The Equus is intended to compete with the A8, the > 7 Series, and the S Class, and according to > newcartestdrive.com it does a very good job of it. > You can’t pick up any of those 3 for anything > close to the price of the Equus. I don’t think it > will sell particularly well in the US because of > the brand image at this point in time, but in many > ways it is like getting an S Class but only paying > for an E class. It’s not going to help that the front end looks like a Mercedes knock-off and the back end looks like it came from a Buick.
monger187 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It’s not going to help that the front end looks > like a Mercedes knock-off and the back end looks > like it came from a Buick. Actually, the nondescript design also has a purpose. Since Hyundai has a negative brand stigma in the luxury segment, they’re trying to blend in with the other brands. They’re quite capable of coming up with attractive designs, as is evident from the newest Hyundai/Kia lower end models.
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > monger187 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > Actually, the nondescript design also has a > purpose. Since Hyundai has a negative brand stigma > in the luxury segment, they’re trying to blend in > with the other brands. They’re quite capable of > coming up with attractive designs, as is evident > from the newest Hyundai/Kia lower end models. It will be interesting to see how the Equus fares. VW tried to move up into the luxury segment with the Phaeton several years and failed badly in the US, although I understand it sells fairly well in Germany. I’m also old enough to remember when Cadillac and Lincoln were the kings of the luxury segment in the US (only really, really rich people had European luxury cars then) and people laughed at the idea of a Japanese luxury car. I just looked out my office window and didn’t see a single Cadillac and only one Lincoln. Lexus, Acura and Infinity combined for more than a dozen.
No, my name isn’t Salma.
I don’t think the Equus will do well in the US at all. It’s mostly designed for the Korean market, and Hyundai initially wasn’t even going to sell it in the US. Even if it is a good car, particularly for its price, the lack of brand prestige alone will filter out most buyers in this price range. So, really, I think that they brought it here just so people will raise an eyebrow and think a bit harder about the Sonatas and Optimas that Hyundai wants to sell in greater volumes. I think this is working slowly. People have a hard time taking Korean luxury cars seriously today, but in 10 years or so, the future looks pretty bright.
I think the people who are really brand conscious would stay away, others who are less so, and are more hunting for quality would be attracted to it. I think the car looks really nice, and if I had 50K lying around, I would definitely go for that over a comparably priced E Class or a 5 series, but then again, I’m a deep value guy. The problem with the Phaeton was that it was at the same price as the A8/S/7 series without the luxury nameplate. VW isn’t really known for reliability and service either. Like the Phaeton, here there is no luxury badge, but it’s selling at a substantial discount to it’s competitors the S and 7 series while being priced like a E/5 series. To the guy who said “German engineering, build quality”, why does Mercedes have such low reliability rates if it has high “build quality”? Rather than make a profit, I think they are primarily looking to create value for Hyundai, and perhaps looking to pave the way to Equus being spun off a luxury brand.