• Wall Street Journal, Monday, September 20, 2010 10:45 AM

In November, Hyundai is launching a $55,000-plus sedan called the Equus that John Krafcik, CEO of the Korean automaker's U.S. unit, calls "a beacon for the brand." It follows on the heels of the modestly successful Genesis, a car priced in the $40,000s that has many of the features of a Lexus or Mercedes, Mike Ramsey reports, except the key one for many upscale buyers: cachet.

Hyundai's Krafcik believes that, unlike brands like Toyota (Lexus) and Nissan (Infiniti), Hyundai can forge a luxury niche without creating a separate line. "We are proud that this is a Hyundai," he says of the Equus. But some branding experts think "it will be harder to do under the Hyundai name than a separate luxury brand," as BrandTaxi principal John Grace puts it.

The luxury market is one of Hyundai's only avenues for growth, Ramsey writes, so it is selling "pragmatic prestige" to both lure affluent buyers and to raise the company's image among less-wealthy customers who remain wary about the brand's cheaper models. It also is experimenting with some "cool" sales ideas like having a sales person visit the consumer's home to show the car.

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