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Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.

2015 Audi S3 configurator goes live with all the black and silver paint you've hoped for

It has already been nearly a year since we completed our First Drive of the premium pocket rocket Audi S3, with official pricing for the car detailed earlier this summer. Those are facts, but facts won't help you while away your lunchtime in blissful, car-dreaming reverie, will they?
No, for help with imagining just exactly the kind of Audi S3 that you'd like to put in your garage, the freshly launched configurator is just the thing.
Every 2015 Audi S3 will come with 2.0T power under the hood - to the tune of 292 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. The most basic Premium Plus trim (an interesting renaming of "entry level" we'll grant you) starts at $41,100 before destination, while the higher-content Prestige asks $47,000. The extra six grand buys you full LED lighting, tri-zone climate control, S model appearance upgrades like quad exhaust tips and a more advanced infotainment suite with Bang & Olufsen sound.

Audi confirms S8 Plus for US to debut in LA

Audi has confirmed that the new S8 Plus will indeed be coming to North America. The more potent version of the German automaker's flagship sedan was first revealed in August, and Audi will bring it to the upcoming Los Angeles auto show. The Plus model packs the same 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 as the existing S8 (and the Bentley Continental for that matter), but increases output from 520 horsepower to 605 hp and torque from 481 pound-feet to 516 lb-ft (or 553 on overboost). The result is a 0-62 time quoted at 3.8 seconds to give the likes of the Mercedes-AMG S63, Jaguar XJR, and Maserati Quattroporte a run for their money. Audi of America has not announced US pricing for the S8 Plus or final specifications for the American market. Look for an MSRP in the neighborhood of $140k. The Audi S8 Plus will debut in LA alongside the new RS7 Performance and the second-generation R8, which will be making its US auto show debut at the SoCal expo. TRIO OF AUDI SPORT® AND PERFORMANCE MODELS TO MAKE US DEBUT AT LA AUTO SHOW – AUDI R8, RS 7 PERFORMANCE AND S8 PLUS - The second generation of the R8 high-performance halo car makes its U.S. auto show debut - Auto show debut of new RS 7 performance enhances brand's dynamic profile - S8 plus strengthens Audi's position in premium sedan segment November 10, 2015 | HERNDON, Virginia -- Reinforcing the brand's success from road to track, Audi will showcase a trio of new performance vehicles – including the all-new R8, RS 7 performance and S8 plus – at the Los Angeles Auto Show. "The Audi Sport® and performance models have always been an essential part of our brand's character," said Filip Brabec, Director of Product Management for Audi of America. "The Audi R8, RS 7 performance and S8 plus represent the maximum of Audi performance, premium design and technology for our customers." 2017 Audi R8 The fastest and most powerful Audi of all time, the 2017 R8 represents the pinnacle of performance for any model with the four rings. Thanks to the close cooperation between Audi Sport® engineers, race drivers and developers, the Audi R8 and R8 LMS racecar were co-developed and share approximately 50 percent of the same parts, including the V10 engine. The R8 launches with two powertrain variants: the 5.2L V10 with 540 hp, an increase of 15 hp from the previous R8 model or the R8 V10 Plus, boasting a powerful 610 hp, an increase of 60 hp, making it faster, more powerful and more dynamic than its predecessor.