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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.

GM recalling 524k vehicles over hood latches and toe link nuts

Just hours after confirming to Autoblog its intention to recall 97,540 vehicles in the US (117,651 in North America) for a possible manufacturing defect in the chassis control module of several models, General Motors is issuing two more campaigns that affect another 379,401 units in the US (524,384 in North America).
One campaign covers 290,107 US examples of the 2010-2015 Cadillac SRX and the 2011-2012 Saab 9-4X because the "rear toe link adjuster lock nuts" may be improperly torqued. If not up to spec, the toe adjuster link could separate and allow the wheel to shift while driving, making the handling unstable. GM says that it knows of three crashes and two injuries as a result of this problem. Dealers are inspecting the nuts and installing a new link assembly, if necessary. Autoblog first reported about this potential issue when it showed up on a list of recalls from Transport Canada.
The second recall is for 89,294 examples of the 2013-2015 Chevrolet Spark in the US manufactured from January 17, 2012, through July 29, 2014. According to GM, "corrosion can cause the secondary hood latch striker to stick in the open position." If this happens, and the primary latch also isn't engaged for some reason, the hood could fly open while driving. About 13,000 of these affected Sparks are at dealers and are being held until repaired. The fix requires replacing the hood striker. GM isn't aware of crashes, injuries or fatalities caused by this problem.

No, Eminem is not giving away the Cadillac Ciel concept, Facebookers

Damn it, Facebook people, stop being so gullible. When you see something on social media that requires you to share or like a status or page in exchange for a chance at winning something, it's almost always a hoax. This goes for iPads, or Bill Gates giving away cash or, yes, an Eminem fan page giving away a Cadillac Ciel. Now, normally we'd simply ignore this utter hogwash, but it's getting some traction on Facebook and, annoyingly, is beginning to clog our newsfeed. Ignoring the fact that the Ciel is a pure concept car that likely can't even be registered for regular use, there are more than a few things that should give this nonsense away as a hoax. First, Eminem has only ever gotten in bed with one automaker – Chrysler. It seems unlikely that he'd defect simply to give away a car on Facebook. Secondly, the page that is putting on the giveaway isn't even a verified page – Eminem's real Facebook fan page has 97 million likes, this one has 622,000. Third, a quick look at the caption for the Ciel's photo, shown above, reveals the sort of grammatical mess that no serious contest would allow. Take a look (sic implied throughout): "Only 24 Days Until Christmas, Can you Imagine yourself driving this Car? I'm about to make that happen, Its Official, I Will be giving away this 2014 Cadillac Ciel to one random lucky fan, all you gotta do is follow these three easy steps, Step 1) Share this photo, Step 2) Like my page, Slim Shady Step 3) Like this photo, Winner Will be picked On December 5th 4 Days Away, Good luck to Everyone!!" We reached out to Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell just for fun. Apparently, this photo and schtick pops up every few months with virtually the same text, only to vanish at the end of the "giveaway." You're as shocked as we are, right? So, once again folks, just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. If your friends, family and acquaintances are blowing up your Facebook feed and social network channels with this nonsense, be sure to set 'em straight with a link to this story – we're sure the real Slim Shady will appreciate it.