Genesis’s Oldest Sedan Just Doubled Its Sales

Genesis just had its best third quarter ever in the United States, and the model with the biggest jump was not an SUV but the G70, a compact sedan that has been on sale since 2018.

The brand sold 22,645 vehicles in the quarter, up 6 percent, and closed it with an 18 percent increase in September to 8,063 sales. The G70 nearly doubled that month to 1,711 cars from 858 a year earlier. The GV70 remained the brand’s volume model at roughly 3,000 sales for the month, flat against last September, while the GV80 climbed 37 percent to 2,430. The two bigger sedans went the other way: the G80 managed 312 sales against 306 and the G90 slipped to 104 from 131.

Hyundai Motor Company reported the quarterly figure in its global third-quarter results on October 29, calling it the brand’s strongest third quarter in the market and noting that Genesis remains the fastest luxury marque to reach one million cumulative sales. The company did not break out September or individual models, and Genesis no longer posts monthly US sales releases on its own newsroom. The model figures come from TopSpeed, which published them on October 24 and attributed them to Genesis; CarPro had earlier put the quarter at a record 22,645, up 5.5 percent, with September up 18 percent.

The year-to-date picture, per TopSpeed, shows where the growth sits. The GV70 is at 26,674 sales through September, up 12 percent from 23,902, the GV80 is at 18,161, up 10 percent from 16,504, and the G70 is at 9,440, up 14 percent from 8,282. Those three models account for roughly nine of every ten Genesis vehicles sold in the US this year. The GV70 and GV80 are built in Korea and compete most directly with the Lexus NX and RX, while the G70 lines up against the Lexus IS, a car that is also older than most of its rivals and has also found a second wind among buyers who want a rear-drive sedan.

The parent company’s quarter was strong in the US and weak nearly everywhere else. Hyundai Motor America reported record September sales of 77,439 and a record third quarter of 246,896 on October 1, with hybrids up 35 percent for the quarter, and Hyundai Motor’s October 29 release put Hyundai and Genesis US sales for the first nine months at 759,197, up 3 percent. Global sales fell 10.1 percent in the quarter to 931,211, which Hyundai blamed on a prolonged strike in Korea, Middle East supply constraints and tougher competition in Europe and South America. Korean sales dropped 26.7 percent and China fell by half.

For US buyers, the release confirms the next additions to the Genesis lineup: the all-electric GV90 flagship unveiled in August, plus a GV80 hybrid and an extended-range electric model, both due in 2027.

The HyundaiHQ Take

A record quarter built on the GV70 and GV80 is the expected story, so the G70 is the one worth watching. A seven-year-old compact sedan nearly doubling its September sales is not a product-cycle effect, it is pricing and inventory finding buyers who want an affordable rear-drive luxury sedan while Lexus, BMW and Mercedes have all moved upmarket, and Genesis should keep feeding that market rather than letting the G70 wither while it waits for a replacement. The G80 and G90 numbers show the ceiling for large sedans, which makes the 2027 GV80 hybrid and the eventual GV90 far more important to the brand’s US volume than anything with a trunk.