Here’s What Genesis Needs To Do For Magma to Smash BMW And Mercedes

We had a huge news story drop last night. Genesis told us that it’s taking on the major players with a new line of performance models wearing the Magma name. It’s a big call, daring to go up against BMW’s M and Mercedes-AMG. Plenty of automakers have aspired to do it, many have faltered. Let’s talk about what Genesis needs to do to make this work.

Fundamentally, it’s all about cachet. Rizz. Prestige. That’s what Genesis needs. It wants you to know what that Magma badge means the first time you see it. You’re supposed to be jealous. You’re supposed to think “Damn, he’s doing well. How the hell did he afford a Magma?”

Right now, that’s not a thing. Badge recognition lies with the Germans. Every car fan knows what an M badge means, and knows how to spot a fake on the back of a poverty-pack model. AMG branding carries similar weight. Even outside the car world, normies know that a BMW M or a Mercedes-AMG is a step or three above a Chevy, Ford, or Nissan. Genesis needs to get there, and fast. It’s not easy, but it’s doable.

The Germans have the benefit of long-established brands. Mercedes-Benz and BMW both date back to the early reaches of the 20th century. Their performance brands are similarly well-aged, each over 50 years old.

They had the luxury of doing things the slow way. Year after year, decade after decade, they pumped out luxury models of quality and refinement. Their performance arms then turned up the wick and made a name for themselves with horsepower and handling. Over time, word spread, and the iconography was burned into the collective automotive psyche. See an M3 out on the road, and you know it’s a bit of a weapon, even if you haven’t picked up a car magazine in years. Ditto a C63 AMG.

The problem is that Genesis is a latecomer here. It’s not entering an empty market. Customers with money are already thinking about their next purchase. They’re wondering, will I go with another AMG? Or maybe I’ll try the new Bimmer? Genesis needs to get in that conversation.

It’s already making some of the right moves. Bright orange may be a polarizing color, but it catches the eye. It pops when you’re scrolling through Google News or posts on social media. They’ve got your attention. Then, the name. Magma. It’s reinforced by the color itself, which helps it get that first little hook into your brain.

Magma can’t be like Splash or Wildtrak or Highlander. It can’t just be another trim level. It has to be a brand. It has to mean something greater, even if Genesis isn’t planning to make it a true standalone brand. To be fair to Genesis, no German automaker with a performance “brand” truly has a separate brand. You walk into a BMW dealer to buy an M3, an Audi dealer to buy an RS6 Avant, and a Mercedes dealer to buy a Mercedes-AMG.

Thankfully, the company can likely draw on some experience in this regard. Hyundai already did a great job of this with its N brand of high-performance cars.

Cut back to the ’90s, and if you wanted to make a hot version of a car, you’d stick GT on it. Or GTS. Or GT-R. All well and good. But Hyundai didn’t want to tread those same worn boards. Instead, it went bold. Hyundai announced that its hot cars would wear the N badge. The Veloster N, Elantra N, i30 N. They told everyone that the “N” on the back means it’s the fast one. Got it? Good.

It was oddball, at first, but it stuck in the brain. Hyundai then reinforced the message with styling. Cars emblazoned in that bespoke bright blue, with big air dams and black and red trim. “Oh, that’s the N model,” you’d say, because you could spot one at 30 paces, no problem.

Finally, it backed up the styling with genuine performance chops. It hired the right people, spent the money, and did the work. It built genuinely exciting performance cars. They handled great, with engines that excited and made all the right noises. They told you what they were going to do, they showed you what they were going to do, then they did it.

Genesis should follow the same template. They’ve caught our eye with the orange paint and the bad boy looks. They’ve told us the name is Magma, neatly reinforced by the mental connection with the color. So far, so good.

The next part is harder. They need to show us the cars can do what the paint suggests—go fast. People need to see these orange weapons ripping around, pulling Gs like a hot Euro sedan in a European heist movie.

Back in the day, you’d give one to Clarkson and tell him to get the thing sideways, smoking the tires in a power test. These days, the hot car films are produced elsewhere, but the same theory applies. The car needs to be seen doing the high-performance dance, publicly and loud.

Top Gear used to be an excellent way to introduce a high-performance car to the wider public.

It’s ideal if this comes out before the spec sheets, too. Initial perceptions are everything. The Genesis efforts will be held to a high yardstick, as they go up against M sedans and Porsche Macan Turbos. People need to see the cars as cool and powerful, and that will create an emotional memory that’s hard to erase.

Stats can do more harm than good if they come at the wrong time. Ever had a conversation like this? “Ah, I’m not shopping for the new BMW,” says your mate in finance. “It’s 20 horsepower down on the Porsche, so I’m not interested.” That stat tells you almost nothing on paper about what the car is like to drive or own. But that pre-formed opinion is hard to overcome no matter what you show them next.

Even then, the Magma cars still need to bring the noise. They’ll need to offer competitive horsepower and top-notch handling on a par with their rivals wearing M and AMG badges. They’ll also need to be competitive on price. I don’t mean cheaper, though. In fact, quite the opposite.

See, a lot of buyers in this space are heavily image-conscious. For them to take a punt on a Genesis, they’re going to need that Magma badge to carry some weight. If the Magma is $30,000 cheaper than its rivals, it risks being seen as a cheaper alternative. Big money buyers don’t want to be seen that way. Nor do they want to drive something that’s seen as “not as good.” The Magma models need to be as good, if not better, to earn their place in the market.

There’s also the usual grunt work to do, too. Get the new hot car in the hands of the new hot people. Make sure they’re seen in it. Make sure somebody’s writing down that they were spotted not just in a Genesis, but the Magma. The hot one. The one you want. The one you’re gonna get. Yeah, it’s a cheap move. It’s easy, it’s cynical, and brands do it because it works. 

You know why we don’t wear spats anymore? The King of England showed up without them in 1926 and everyone wanted to look like him. The same rule applies here. This kind of thing gets your car in gossip mags. It gets your partner saying “Oh, did you see Michael McHotpants was spotted in one of those Magmas you like so much?” If it’s good enough for McHotpants, it’s good enough for you, right? This shit makes a difference.

Pull all this off, and Genesis could have something mega on its hands. Hyundai did this, and did it well, albeit in a more forgiving market where badges means less and value means more. Magma, on the other hand, has to mean rich, fast, and cool all at the same time, and almost immediately.

There’s a mountain to climb. We’ll soon see if the fast orange rides from Korea can make it to the top.

Image credits: Matt Hardigree, Genesis