A large, rear-wheel drive V6 with 315 horsepower for $229,999 with COE: luxury meets value in the Hyundai Genesis

SINGAPORE – Korea’s answer to the likes of Lexus and Mercedes made its debut here last night, with the launch of the Hyundai Genesis.

The car was introduced at Hyundai distributor Komoco Motor’s showroom on Alexandra Road, with close to 200 guests on hand to scrutinise the large sedan. Among them were the Korean ambassador and finalists from the Miss Singapore Universe competition, which is sponsored by Komoco.

What guests will have seen is a plush sedan with a 3.8-litre engine. The Genesis is a car admired by CarBuyer for its smooth V6, its comfy ride over bumps and its overall refinement.

But with a launch price of $229,999 with COE, it could well be the single most pricey consumer item from Korea here, and will test the car-buying public’s appetite for luxury from the Hyundai brand.

MORE: What the Genesis offers under the skin

The Genesis certainly has size on its side. It’s 4,990mm long and 1,890mm wide, which makes it larger than the $263,888 Mercedes-Benz E-Class that happens to be not just Singapore’s favourite luxury car, but favourite car overall if sales numbers are anything to go by.

It has a 315 horsepower engine with an eight-speed auto, and a huge list of standard equipment.

Apart from luxury items like rear air-con, self-parking and keyless entry and engine starting, the Genesis has advanced features like blind spot detection, radar tracking of the car ahead for active cruise control, and even a bonnet that pops up to cushion the impact to a pedestrian if someone is silly enough to walk into your path.

For the money, it’s a lot of car. But that just plays to the strengths of the Koreans, says Komoco group managing director Teo Hock Seng. “This has always been the forte of Hyundai: being able to build top quality at a competitive price,” he says.

MORE: Our five-minute take on the Genesis

Korean engineering is nothing to dismiss, says Mr Teo. “Take our top customer. We do fleet sales, and Comfort Del-Gro have got 15,000 Hyundai taxis on the road. You might not realise the durability of the cars,” he says. “Some of them under seven years old have come close to two million kilometres.”

That’s no fluke, either. Comfort is pleased enough with its Hyundai taxis to have just signed a deal with Komoco, for the purchase of 14,000 Hyundai i40s over the next five years.

Yet, while the Genesis seems to offer all the tangible aspects of premium motoring, it now faces the task of satisfying the desire in luxury car buyers for more intangible qualities like snob appeal, just as Toyota’s Lexus brand did 25 years ago.

If it succeeds, the Genesis’ launch here will have marked the arrival of something big, but the start of something bigger.