And on the eighth day there was peace and quiet
Genesis may share its name with the ancient story of creation, but the automotive variant began more recently and took a lot longer than just one week. The name Genesis first appeared on the nose of a Hyundai in 2008, representing the Korean company’s first serious attempt to enter the luxury-sedan market. Honda started this trend with Acura, followed by Toyota and Nissan with Lexus and Infiniti respectively, but Hyundai was planning to take this idea even further.
Hyundai went through an important transition in 2015, from selling premium cars under the Hyundai name to establishing Genesis as a standalone luxury brand. The event leading up to this was the unveiling of the striking Hyundai Vision G Coupe Concept, which was first shown to invited guests at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, before making appearances at the Pebble Beach concours d’élégance and Frankfurt International Motor Show. Before the end of that same year, Hyundai announced Genesis as an independent global luxury brand and started sales of the EQ900 on the South-Korean home market, replacing the Hyundai Equus after a development time of three years. At the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the same model made its United States debut but renamed to G90. At this point it was very clear: Genesis was no longer testing the waters, it was spreading its wings globally.
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