[Santa]

If BullittFan_Fords4Life’s response to Bahama Todd is indeed true, we may be seeing the production model of the Santa Cruz very soon, maybe even at next year’s North American International Auto Show in January. The Hyundai employee was not able to provide us with a release date or information about any upcoming official announcements, claiming that it’s “still pending” but he did confirm that Hyundai has approved of the Santa Cruz for the next step, production. The Hyundai Santa Cruz concept model first debuted at the 2015 NAIAS so Hyundai may surprise us again and reveal the production model at the same event in 2016.

Originally, we were expecting an announcement from Hyundai in November possibly at the L.A. Auto Show but nothing new has surfaced until now. Since BullittFan_Fords4Life will be attending factory mandated training seminars for the Santa Cruz, Hyundai may build a sale ready model soon if they are not already available for training. It’s highly unlikely that Hyundai will make their employees train on a concept car.

Does anyone think the production Santa Cruz will make an appearance at the 2016 NAIAS? If not, when do you think we'll see the finished truck?

 

[BahamaTodd]

Maybe later next year. I've learned not to believe everything dealer employees say though. They very often get things wrong or confused.

 

[Santana]

Maybe later next year. I've learned not to believe everything dealer employees say though. They very often get things wrong or confused.

Agree.

At least for now its something, haven't heard anything about the Santa Cruz in a while. In the coming days and weeks we might hear more about this from techs.

 

[BahamaTodd]

Hyundai ute on the way - motoring.com.au

Hyundai USA CEO Dave Zuchowski interview at the Detroit auto show:

“What’s the easiest way to say that? We’re waiting more for an announcement than we are for an approval, right? HMC [Hyundai Korea head office] is going to dictate [when that happens, but] we feel really good about it,”

“It hasn’t been officially announced yet. Our timing is not crossing our fingers and waiting for approval, it’s trying to figure out when we’re going to announce it,”

Anything can happen, but that's pretty official coming from the CEO.

 

[TimmyB]

Hyundai ute on the way - motoring.com.au

Hyundai USA CEO Dave Zuchowski interview at the Detroit auto show:

Anything can happen, but that's pretty official coming from the CEO.

Yeah, I just read this on the mLive (Michigan news) site. God, I hate that some voices turned out to be correct about this, but after a FULL YEAR, they are "almost" at green light. That is SO disappointing. I hope they do build it, but all that momentum and buzz, completely killed. I doubt that those at NAIAS are going to be creating a huge buzz if they announce it there this week.

 

[BahamaTodd]

Press days at NAIAS were Monday and Tuesday so we are not going to here anything new. The Genesis brand is their focus at the moment.

 

[TimmyB]

Press days at NAIAS were Monday and Tuesday so we are not going to here anything new. The Genesis brand is their focus at the moment.

Yeah, Todd, I saw that, too. That's (one more reason) why I'm disappointed about this. It looks like they're going to call the Genesis a brand-name (if I understand correctly); I think that causes more confusion, to reuse a model name. MB is doing something similar, using AMG as an actual model name.

I would have just as soon seen Hyundai do something similar to what Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did decades ago and create a new luxury brand name, with the Genesis model as part of that, or even get rid of the Genesis name altogether and go with the G80 and G90 as models.

 

[TxHotrod]

From autoblog

Hyundai Santa Cruze pickup is a when, not an if

 

[Santana]

Yeah, Todd, I saw that, too. That's (one more reason) why I'm disappointed about this. It looks like they're going to call the Genesis a brand-name (if I understand correctly); I think that causes more confusion, to reuse a model name. MB is doing something similar, using AMG as an actual model name.

I would have just as soon seen Hyundai do something similar to what Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did decades ago and create a new luxury brand name, with the Genesis model as part of that, or even get rid of the Genesis name altogether and go with the G80 and G90 as models.

I actually love the whole Genesis branding approach since when targeting demographics that have MANY options available to them, you need some way to pull them in better especially with the overall idea built up about Hyundai over the years.

Plus it takes them out of the Hyundai box and into a space where a lot more can be done, like what has been happening recently.

 

[TimmyB]

I actually love the whole Genesis branding approach since when targeting demographics that have MANY options available to them, you need some way to pull them in better especially with the overall idea built up about Hyundai over the years.

Plus it takes them out of the Hyundai box and into a space where a lot more can be done, like what has been happening recently.

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely think they should have a luxury brand. I just don't think it is wise to use "Genesis" as the brand name. Imagine if Chevrolet decided they were going to create an upscale brand and called it "Corvette". Then, they had small Corvette models, large Corvette models, etc. It would be massively confusing, to say the least.

 

[BahamaTodd]

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely think they should have a luxury brand. I just don't think it is wise to use "Genesis" as the brand name. Imagine if Chevrolet decided they were going to create an upscale brand and called it "Corvette". Then, they had small Corvette models, large Corvette models, etc. It would be massively confusing, to say the least.

There is actually a Corvette sub-brand rumor going around. lol

I think using Genesis is a good idea. Its their first successful premium car so it has some equity. Brand recognition is extremely important for a luxury brand and people already associate Genesis as a higher end Hyundai. Unless a brand is very strong with a long history, alpha-numeric model names are a must to ensure the focus stays on the brand and not a particular model (Cadillac currently has that problem with the Escalade). If Hyundai went with a new brand name, they would lose the name Genesis and its equity, and would be starting from scratch.

 

[Santana]

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely think they should have a luxury brand. I just don't think it is wise to use "Genesis" as the brand name. Imagine if Chevrolet decided they were going to create an upscale brand and called it "Corvette". Then, they had small Corvette models, large Corvette models, etc. It would be massively confusing, to say the least.

I sort of agree with that since the first time we seen a genesis was as a coupe, when the sedan came to market it was confusing, you had a V6 coupe with no luxury and then a sedan that's just all about luxury.

But now that has me starting to think in the future they could drop the Genesis name on the coupe and keep it strictly to luxury vehicles.

 

[BahamaTodd]

The coupe will definitely be dropping the Genesis name.

 

[Santana]

Did you by any chance hear what they might call it one genesis is dropped?

 

[BahamaTodd]

No I didn't hear anything, but I find it very hard to believe that a coupe in their volume brand will retain the name of their new luxury brand.

 

[Colin]

I don't think a Corvette luxury brand would be that confusing. Corvette already has a distinct emblem and identity. I would liken it to Porsche. Porsche is a brand name, but you can also say "a Porsche" a have an idea of what that is even though you don't know which specific model it is. genesis already has a distinct emblem, and now the brand name can be followed by a designation to differentiate the models. The only thing to remember would be the year that Genesis became an independent brand. Everything before that would just refer to the Genesis sedan.

 

[TimmyB]

I guess it couldn't be any worse than trying to convince people that this isn't your grandfather's Buick, while continuing to put out stuff that my Grandfather would buy, and he'd be 115, if he were still alive.

 

[Santana]

I guess it couldn't be any worse than trying to convince people that this isn't your grandfather's Buick, while continuing to put out stuff that my Grandfather would buy, and he'd be 115, if he were still alive.

It's not hard as long as they get design and the overall image of the product right, after that its easy to see who its for. That's what got them into this mess, they went with old man designs.

 

[BahamaTodd]

Buick is doing better than ever - here in the US and in its primary market - China. That is the only reason Buick was saved during the bankruptcy. GM has their other brands for flashy exciting vehicles. Can't kick them for wanting to appeal to all corners of the market.

Though it wouldn't hurt to have more vehicles like the stunning Avista concept they recently unveiled.
Avista Concept: Sport Coupe - Buick

 

[TimmyB]

Buick is doing better than ever - here in the US and in its primary market - China. That is the only reason Buick was saved during the bankruptcy. GM has their other brands for flashy exciting vehicles. Can't kick them for wanting to appeal to all corners of the market.

Though it wouldn't hurt to have more vehicles like the stunning Avista concept they recently unveiled.
Avista Concept: Sport Coupe - Buick

Buick is doing awesome because those millions of die-hard GM buyers (and, you know who they are, Todd!) have no options left. Buy a Chevy, spend big and buy a Caddy, or split the difference.

And, yes, if they come to market with more cars that look like THIS, then (and only then) they can say "This isn't your grandfather's Buick"!