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Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.

Volvo XC90 First Edition sells out in 47 hours

Two days ago, Volvo opened the order books on its completely new 2015 XC90 crossover, and just like that, all of the 1,927 First Edition models were reserved in a scant 47 hours. According to Volvo, most of the vehicles were reserved within one hour of the online ordering site launching, and at its peak, seven cars were being sold each minute.
First Edition models wear a unique Onyx Black exterior, and ride on eight-spoke, 21-inch wheels. Inside, amber nappa leather covers the seats, the dashboard is lined in charcoal leather, and there are walnut inlays throughout the cabin.
Under the hood, the XC90 First Edition can be had with either a four-cylinder Drive-E gasoline or diesel engine (if you live in markets outside the US, of course). The twin-charged T6 petrol model comes with 320 horsepower, and sends its power to the ground via all-wheel drive.

Tony Nicolosi named CEO of Volvo Cars North America

Volvo announced today that it has named Tony Nicolosi, president and CEO of Volvo Car Financial Services VCFS), as the new CEO of Volvo Cars of North America (VCNA). Nicolosi replaces John Maloney, who chose to leave due to family obligations after Volvo offered him a position in Europe.
Volvo says Nicolosi will remain president and CEO of VCFS while he assumes VCNA's top position. The Swedish automaker also says a "permanent successor [to Maloney] as President and CEO will be the subject of a later announcement."
The move comes as part of a management shakeup that's part of a "larger transformation taking place at Volvo," the automaker says.