The full-size luxury sedan market has all but evaporated, but the Genesis G90 gives a lot of reasons to buck the trends.

In 2006 BMW sold 17,796 7 Series sedans. Audi sold over 5,000 A8s. Mercedes-Benz delivered 30,866 S-Class cars. Today, that market has evaporated. Every manufacturer has seen sales retract by at least half, and it’s more just than the pandemic driving that recession. There haven't been more than 3,500 customers per year buying Audi A8s since 2016.

And then there’s Genesis. A few years ago, this newcomer launched the G90, the very type of car that American consumers have been staying away from in droves. It’s not like G90 sales have set the world on fire since then, but Genesis went from launching as a new brand to outselling Audi’s flagship A8 in 12 months. These cars have presence, they have power, they’re every bit as luxurious as the European imports, and—very importantly in this class—they have presence on the road.

The biggest thing keeping more people from buying one of these cars? The Excel that Genesis parent Hyundai sold back in 1985. Every single time we drive a G90, average bystanders will rave about how great it looks, be shocked about how well it drives, and then in the same breath say “$75,000 for a Hyundai? Forget it.”

It’s time to realize that almost four decades after the Excel, Hyundai is capable of building a world-class automobile.