Not unlike the producers and distributors of No Time To Die, Mulan, and The French Dispatch, the team at Genesis is worried about a launch botched by the Coronavirus pandemic and they’re holding back the 2021 GV80 crossover and redesigned 2021 G80 sedan until later this year.
Automotive News reports that the launches of the two models, originally due for later this winter, will be held back until spring. This decision comes as other automakers have decided to hold off on some new product launches until conditions change, among them GM’s new Hummer and Ford’s Bronco, F-150, and Mustang Mach-e.
While market conditions are likely a factor in the decision to delay the launch, the company has also placed blame for the slowdown on the EPA, whose emissions testing facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan were shut down for as part of Michigan’s lockdown efforts aimed at controlling the pandemic. This shutdown prevented Genesis from getting its new models’ mileage and emissions statistics certified in order to pave the way for U.S. market sales.
In addition to the EPA certification hiccup, Genesis is also looking to position itself to take advantage of any recovery in auto sales later this year with these two new models. The GV80 is the brand’s first crossover and it is counting on the model to grow the brand’s market share against competitors from Germany and Japan.
Genesis has already priced both the GV80 and the redesigned G80 to position them favourably in relation to their more established rivals. Whether they will find converts from other brands remains to be seen. They’ll need to if the brand wants to recover from the 25% dip in sales it saw during the first half of the year. Perhaps a few months wait due to the coronavirus shutdown will do the trick to bring things back on the level once the cars finally launch.
Oh, and about that headline: It seems like Geneses is the plural of Genesis, at least according to the dictionary.