Detroit auto show: How Hyundai plans to take the luxury segment

Hyundai President and CEO John Krafcik said the company intends to make a greater dent in the luxury segment, as Hyundai introduced the HCD-14 Genesis concept, a “vision” for its premium lineup going forward the 2013 North American International Auto Show.

Its exterior has sleek, low profile that that the company’s design engineer aims at an “effortless” look. Under the hood, the HCD-14 luxury sedan has a 5-liter Tau V8 engine. Its eight-speed automatic transmission includes paddle shifters on the steering wheel. 

But the real innovation comes on the interior, with a proprietary technology that includes the driver using touch free controls. Imagine, as was seen in a video, the driver not physically touching any knobs or controls to adjust the stereo, for example, but rather just gesturing in thin air. 

Here is how Hyundai explains this technology: 

"Using state-of-the-art driver eye-tracking and 3-D hand-gesture recognition, HCD-14 Genesis is able to recognize driver commands free from the distractions associated with manual controls. Once a specific feature is selected via eye-tracking, thumb controls or gesture recognition can be used to select navigation, infotainment, audio, HVAC, and even smartphone connectivity functions. This intuitive interface provides the driver with complete control while keeping his eyes safely above the cowl plane, using a windshield heads-up display (HUD) for minimal driving distraction. This proprietary interface represents Hyundai’s vision for future vehicle HMI and sets a new benchmark in active driver safety technology."

After it was shown, Krafcik said perhaps the audience was wondering, “Is this a Bentley disguised Genesis sedan?”

“The answer again, I’m saying this twice, it’s really not,” he said. “It’s not the ‘next-gen’ Genesis that we’ll debut next year. It’s really the guiding light for a whole portfolio of products we’ve got coming.”

It’s part of an effort, in Krafcik’s words, to “translate the brand from a value brand to a valuable brand.”

It makes sense, considering that Hyundai’s current premium models, the Genesis and the Equus, set sales records for the company in 2012. 

“In fact, every year we’ve had Genesis and Equuus in the lineup, they have broken prior year sales record,” Krafcik said.  

Currently, those two models also have 9 percent share in the premium segment, whereas the overall brand’s share in the industry is just 5 percent. 

The HCD-14 concept also marks what Hyundai intends to do with its models, and that is to gradually create more divergence between mass market products and premium products.

“This is really an important concept car for us, and that’s why we brought it to Detroit, and we’d love to hear what you think about it,” Krafcik said.