GV60 EV rollout brought Genesis and a new dealer together

To fine-tune plans to distribute, sell and market its first electric vehicle, the GV60, Genesis Motor North America took the unusual step of partnering with a dealer.

And at the time, he wasn't even a Hyundai dealer.

The GV60 EV launched last week in Los Angeles with its first shipment to Genesis Santa Monica, a store owned by Mike Sullivan, president of LAcarGuy dealership group.

Sullivan has been selling electrified vehicles in the L.A. market for 15 years, including battery-electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Genesis wanted that experience.

His LAcarGuy stores include a number of brands that moved into electrification ahead of Genesis — such as Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Toyota and Lexus. The dealership group learned the ways of EV retailing from selling the VW e-Golf and ID4, the Audi E-tron, Porsche Taycan and others. And Sullivan estimates that his Toyota store volumes made LAcarGuy the biggest seller of the Toyota Prius hybrid in the country for several years running. He was also one of the first dealers to take on Toyota's hydrogen-powered Mirai.

But when Genesis approached him in 2020, Sullivan wasn't even part of Hyundai's dealership network, the pool from which luxury Genesis retailers were selected. Next month will mark his one-year anniversary as a Genesis dealer.

Claudia Marquez, Genesis COO, said Sullivan offered "so much experience" about selling electrified vehicles as the brand prepared to launch EVs. And Genesis knew that California was going to be central to its business plan of electrification and launching the GV60, Marquez told Automotive News.

Sullivan says Genesis invited him to help it piece together the complex puzzle of electrification because of his group's experience talking to customers about EVs and educating them on the products and lifestyle changes required to drive one. He also has been on dealer councils for Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, Toyota and Subaru addressing electrification decisions.

Recruiting Sullivan also gave Genesis a foothold in an area that's already hot for EVs. LAcarGuy operates 13 stores in the L.A. metro area, and six of them are in Santa Monica. His temporary Genesis store there, one of only two standalone Genesis dealerships currently open in the U.S., serves more as a pop-up while he awaits the opening of a permanent building this December.

"Genesis was looking to expand their dealer body and wanted to get into Santa Monica," Sullivan said. It had good reason: Tesla.

Tesla is "massive" in that part of the giant L.A. market, Sullivan said. The EV maker just opened a Supercharger station in Santa Monica with 26 charging stalls, and another 36 are set to open there this year. Depending on when those stalls open, it could be the largest Supercharger station in the world.

The GV60 will go head-to-head with Tesla's Model Y. Both EVs come in two all-wheel-drive packages. The default Model Y Long Range gets 330 miles of range and costs $64,440, including a $1,200 delivery fee and $250 order fee. The Model Y's more powerful Performance trim has a 303-mile range and costs $69,440, including both fees.

The base Genesis GV60 Advanced costs $66,440, including a shipping charge of $1,095, and gets 248 miles of range. The top-shelf GV60, also called Performance, has a slightly lower 235-mile range and is priced at $68,985, including delivery. Hyundai and Genesis EVs are also still eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, but Teslas are not.

Genesis studied Tesla's model of online-only ordering in the early days. Sullivan recalls, "They wanted to know if they should allocate it, like a regular car, or do we need to take orders?"

Genesis opted for an online ordering system for the first 90 days, but then switched to traditional distribution after that. Sullivan said GV60s will trickle out at the rate of five or six vehicles a month to certain dealers in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. That small allocation is partly due to the microchip shortage, but it also reflects a desire to keep inventory tight, Sullivan says.

Genesis also considered what type of complimentary charging to provide GV60 buyers. The options included providing one year of unlimited free charging or offering three years of free charging with time limitations.

Genesis chose the latter. It concluded that because the GV60's 800-volt architecture will charge quickly, drivers will likely not need more than 30 minutes of public charging.

"If you have a charging station at home or work, you can really stretch it into three free years," Sullivan said.

"The psychology of range is going to be less of a concern with the 800-volt architecture because it charges so fast."

Sullivan believes Genesis has entered into EV sales carefully. The young brand wants to phase out internal combustion engines on its way to becoming all-electric by 2030.

"They've known exactly where they were going for years," said the brand's new dealer. Sullivan is fresh off an extensive visit to South Korea to preview the "next wave" of Hyundai and Kia vehicles and may be adding both of those brands to his portfolio.

"They took us in deep to see what was coming for the next couple of years," he said, "and really shared with us more than what you would in a normal pitch."