Sales secondary to customer satisfaction: Genesis

Customer satisfaction is still the top priority for Genesis Australia as it builds the luxury brand, contrasting with the norm by focusing on the ownership experience over outright sales results.

Speaking to Drive at the launch of the 2024 GV80 SUV and Coupe, Head of Genesis Australia Justin Douglass, who took the top job in January this year, said the focus in the short term is buyer satisfaction.

“We obviously have internal [sales] targets that we work towards, and we obviously don’t share publicly,” he said.

“I’m in a fortunate position given it’s a young brand, customer service and satisfaction are primary to sales results.

“For us, the real focus is on upgrading facilities, understanding where our gaps are when it comes to that customer satisfaction cycle, and making sure that, where we identify changes need to be made, we focus on those.

“We’re highly confident you get all of those things right, the sales results start to take care of themselves, and so for us, they’re secondary to what some of our core focuses are.

“I think with a growing product portfolio, obviously with our outlets being redeveloped and this year having a full year of them being open … that’s obviously going to be a key part in helping our sales grow.”

For context, Genesis Australia had its highest sales year on record last year since entering the market as a standalone brand in 2017, notching up a 1916-unit tally.

While that was a significant 84.4 per cent increase over 2022’s result, the brand still significantly trails luxury leaders like Mercedes-Benz (24,315), BMW (26,184), Audi (19,039), and Lexus (15,192).

For the first four months of 2024, Genesis sales have slightly increased year-on-year, up 5.6 per cent to 470 new registrations.

With the revised GV80 line-up now in showrooms, Genesis expects a similar year-end total of around 400 units, despite prices increasing alongside more standard equipment and the discontinuation of more affordable engine options.

Next to be updated is the G80 sedan with a facelift due around the middle of the year, followed by the top-selling GV70 mid-size SUV due in the second half of the year.

The G70 mid-size sedan and wagon was recently revised in late 2023, while the GV60 electric car was refreshed in May last year.

It is also expected the GV60 will be facelifted shortly following the updates to the mechanically similar Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6.