Opinion

I have a lot of time for Michael van der Sande, who as Alpine managing director brought the A110 to market and was later in charge of JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations. Plus, anyone who owns an Alfa Romeo SZ is all right in my book.

But I have even more time for him since he recently took a well-aimed pop in an online post at level-one autonomous driving functions, which he described as “a nightmare”.

Citing speed warning systems getting limits wrong, multiple emergency braking alerts and unwarranted steering assistance interventions, he said these systems are “confusing, annoying and (in my humble opinion) not very safe”.

Problems like this are compounded, he said, by “the most ‘basic’ functions, such as air vent speed, hidden on the second page of a centre screen” meaning “we have the perfect mix of distractions that will render the car less safe than the previous generation of cars. And most of this new functionality is annoying as hell.”

I’m glad he’s said it. We say it, and keep saying it (sorry not sorry about that). But, on the whole, industry people say it less so. I can understand why they don’t, or are reluctant to on the record, because they have cars to sell. But given that legislators and those who are mandating inadequate, infuriating technology aren’t listening to us, it’s time they did – and loudly.

The nascent Genesis brand has been through rather a lot in its short time in the UK.

Launched in the middle of the Covid pandemic as a stand-alone entity that planned to offer only direct sales online, Hyundai Motor Group’s premium arm was subsequently rolled into the UK mothership at the back end of last year under the leadership of Ashley Andrew and started to partner with traditional retailers for sales at a similar time. 

Genesis's sales have fallen backwards in 2024 as it adjusts to those changes, which operationally effectively amount to a relaunch, although not in the eyes of the consumer because the cars have remained the same. So far in 2024, it has registered 556 cars in the UK, a 31% drop year on year and a similar number to DS.

Even so, Genesis remains one of the more interesting entrants to the UK car market because of where it has come from. Sired out of the Hyundai Motor Group, probably the most remarkable growth story in the global car industry in the past two decades, the creation of Genesis and desire to establish it as a premium player is surely the toughest challenge yet taken on by the Korean giant. 

Given the jobs done with both Hyundai and Kia, Genesis’s future success cannot be dismissed, however slow a start it has made in the UK and mainland Europe. Indeed, any notion that Genesis is another Infiniti - Nissan’s premium arm that didn’t last long in Europe, because it always felt like an ego play from then-boss Carlos Ghosn - is instantly dismissed by officials. 

They point out that failure or wavering are simply not in Korean culture and Genesis will be established as a credible premium player as a result. Yet the yardstick of how that success is measured within Hyundai is very different from that of the likes of BMW and Audi, which have effectively become volume players. 

In the UK, Genesis’s plan remains to have a network of around 12-15 dealers in order to keep the personal service of the brand. Europe boss Lawrence Hamilton told me that personal service remains the company’s main point of difference and a network of this size allows that to be achieved.

The main part of that service is through the Genesis Personal Assistant programme, a dedicated point of contact for each owner to channel any queries or issues with their car through. It was fascinating to speak to one such personal assistant recently, who said that customers are given their mobile number and they are on hand to help with whatever is needed with the car. 

While there have been 2am phone calls from buyers with flat batteries, much of it is simply routine service bookings and general enquiries, and these can now more easily be facilitated through Genesis’s retail partners. A single point of contact is something buyers have valued. 

Genesis and Hyundai might be being kept as completely separate entities from a consumer perspective, but word has spread: our friendly personal assistant reported that news of the launch of Genesis had filtered through to the existing Hyundai customer base and some had arrived at Hyundai dealers hoping to see Genesis models.

So the word is out there, even if not quite fully in the way the company envisioned. A physical retail presence is something Genesis is keen to establish with its retail partners.

The tie-up with Hyundai has been most significant so far to the bottom line in getting Genesis in front of fleet buyers and the company is experiencing success here in building orders and brand awareness. Hyundai opens doors in this market and Genesis plans to walk through them. The firm is already reporting strong growth in the fleet sector. 

In Europe, Genesis remains in the same three markets as this time last year: the UK, Germany and Switzerland. The intention is still to expand beyond that, but the plans are not aggressive or particularly urgent because the brand wants to get the markets it has already launched in right before before going elsewhere.

Indeed, this time last year, there was talk of launches in France, Italy and Spain, yet instead the UK business was overhauled to give it a structure that took advantage of Hyundai's established back-end functions. 

We’re not short of new brands in the UK, but Genesis hopes to ride the crest of the wave of ‘newness’ and interest in new brands largely being spearheaded by Chinese firms. It can do so without any question marks or controversy about its origins – origins whose record of success with Hyundai and Kia make the Genesis story one of the industry’s more intriguing ones to follow. 

I heard some unexpected mutterings from colleagues about not enjoying the Goodwood Festival of Speed quite as much as normal.

I get some of it. How higher hay bales this year have reduced visibility after an errant wheel entered the crowd last year, and that if one wanted to watch an electric SUV drive past, one could go and stand by the M1.

But I think part of the issue could be over-exposure to the event. These are the grumbles of people who have been every year and seen it all before. I couldn’t make it last year so went this year with a new-found sense of energy.

I think if you save and plan and it’s an event you visit rarely, and to which you head with an intent to see some specific, incredibly special cars and people, Goodwood still retains its magic.

And when the crowds became just too much even for me, when I felt like Neo in The Matrix walking into 1000 people coming in the other direction, I took a walk up the hill into the forest rally stage. You can see barely a handful of people and yet have some of the world’s most special rally cars go past just a few feet away.

Maybe you have to look for it a little harder, but for me Goodwood still has it.

The nascent Genesis brand has been through rather a lot in its short time in the UK.

Launched in the middle of the Covid pandemic as a stand-alone entity that planned to offer only direct sales online, Hyundai Motor Group’s premium arm was subsequently rolled into the UK mothership at the back end of last year under the leadership of Ashley Andrew and started to partner with traditional retailers for sales at a similar time. 

Genesis's sales have fallen backwards in 2024 as it adjusts to those changes, which operationally effectively amount to a relaunch, although not in the eyes of the consumer because the cars have remained the same. So far in 2024, it has registered 556 cars in the UK, a 31% drop year on year and a similar number to DS.

Even so, Genesis remains one of the more interesting entrants to the UK car market because of where it has come from. Sired out of the Hyundai Motor Group, probably the most remarkable growth story in the global car industry in the past two decades, the creation of Genesis and desire to establish it as a premium player is surely the toughest challenge yet taken on by the Korean giant. 

Given the jobs done with both Hyundai and Kia, Genesis’s future success cannot be dismissed, however slow a start it has made in the UK and mainland Europe. Indeed, any notion that Genesis is another Infiniti - Nissan’s premium arm that didn’t last long in Europe, because it always felt like an ego play from then-boss Carlos Ghosn - is instantly dismissed by officials. 

They point out that failure or wavering are simply not in Korean culture and Genesis will be established as a credible premium player as a result. Yet the yardstick of how that success is measured within Hyundai is very different from that of the likes of BMW and Audi, which have effectively become volume players. 

In the UK, Genesis’s plan remains to have a network of around 12-15 dealers in order to keep the personal service of the brand. Europe boss Lawrence Hamilton told me that personal service remains the company’s main point of difference and a network of this size allows that to be achieved.

The main part of that service is through the Genesis Personal Assistant programme, a dedicated point of contact for each owner to channel any queries or issues with their car through. It was fascinating to speak to one such personal assistant recently, who said that customers are given their mobile number and they are on hand to help with whatever is needed with the car. 

While there have been 2am phone calls from buyers with flat batteries, much of it is simply routine service bookings and general enquiries, and these can now more easily be facilitated through Genesis’s retail partners. A single point of contact is something buyers have valued. 

Genesis and Hyundai might be being kept as completely separate entities from a consumer perspective, but word has spread: our friendly personal assistant reported that news of the launch of Genesis had filtered through to the existing Hyundai customer base and some had arrived at Hyundai dealers hoping to see Genesis models.

So the word is out there, even if not quite fully in the way the company envisioned. A physical retail presence is something Genesis is keen to establish with its retail partners, yet these will be stand-alone sites that are not physically linked to any Hyundai dealerships. 

The tie-up with Hyundai has been most significant so far to the bottom line in getting Genesis in front of fleet buyers and the company is experiencing success here in building orders and brand awareness. Hyundai opens doors in this market and Genesis plans to walk through them. The firm is already reporting strong growth in the fleet sector. 

In Europe, Genesis remains in the same three markets as this time last year - the UK, Germany and Switzerland - and the UK now mirrors the other pair in being run out of Hyundai. The intention is still to expand beyond that, but the plans are not aggressive or particularly urgent because the brand wants to get the markets it has already launched in right before before going elsewhere.

Indeed, this time last year, there was talk of launches in France, Italy and Spain, yet instead the UK business was overhauled to give it a structure more in line with that of Germany and Switzerland. 

We’re not short of new brands in the UK, but Genesis hopes to ride the crest of the wave of ‘newness’ and interest in new brands largely being spearheaded by Chinese firms. It can do so without any question marks or controversy about its origins – origins whose record of success with Hyundai and Kia make the Genesis story one of the industry’s more intriguing ones to follow. 

Recently, I drove the Dacia Spring, a small electric car with a 140-mile range when new (and warm and not on a motorway).

Also last week, my munchkins climbed into a 16-year-old small car and drove 140 miles to camp at a wet music festival. When they had to stop to refuel (once, on their way home), it took them only a few minutes.

Fast forward to 2040 and their equivalents might still be tooling around in a combustion-engined city car or supermini – or they could find themselves instead driving an old small electric car, more tired and less rangy than it is today.

Having such a weekend away will still be doable, of course, but it will take longer. One might stop to shop while charging on the way, maybe, rather than buying instant noodles and Jaffa Cakes the night before.

The impromptu freedoms we’ve taken for granted – throwing some kit into the car on a spare weekend and taking a spontaneous long trip to the Lakes or Devon or wherever – will be more daunting in an old Spring than they are now in an old Citroën C1. Maybe prohibitively so.

I genuinely think that by 2030, we will look back at today’s cutting edge and think it wasn’t good enough. Not a reason to give up eradicating tailpipe emissions but enough to wish solid-state batteries, which promise double the energy density and triple the charging speed, into the mainstream as soon as possible.

Because there’s lots to like about the idea of heading into the sticks in an EV. Mooching down a green lane with the windows and roof down, accompanied by only birdsong, the breeze and the scrunch of tyre upon dirt, is something that I’ve done in a plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler, and it’s really compelling.

Then when you get to where you’re going, you can set up shop and plug things into the car: lighting, devices, a kettle, a stove, a fridge, a tent heater on which to dry your socks.

In selling the electric dream, particularly with lifestyle-oriented cars, I wonder if manufacturers make quite enough of this. It doesn’t have to be the wilderness, it could be just a day out, but you can keep your sandwiches colder, your tea warmer and your feet drier.

Mighty Convoy and sending ambulances to Ukraine

My friend Simon Brake, who runs Mighty Convoy, a non-profit organisation that has so far raised £160,000 to take 24 ambulances to Ukraine across seven trips, has called to say that his Ukrainian charity contacts wonder if he’s able to bring 4x4s the next time Mighty Convoy drives to Lviv to donate vehicles, this October.

Winter isn’t far away, and extracting casualties from the front lines away from roads isn’t as practicable in van-based ambulances as it would be in four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks like the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.

Mighty Convoy has great UK contacts to secure used ambulances, which get a proper once-over before making the trip across the continent so Brake is confident they’re in good condition.

But while he’s terrific at raising dosh and organising trips, he’s no expert on vehicles in general or 4x4s in particular, and in short, he doesn’t know where to source good 4x4s. He doesn’t think he knows enough to buy random ones at auction, so he’s hoping to find someone who retails them and gives them a good once-over first.

Donations enable Mighty Convoy to pay £6000 to £8000 per vehicle, and it pays such prices because not only do they have to reach Ukraine reliably, but they must withstand repeated hard use when they get there too.

If you are or know someone who can help, drop me a note and I will put you in touch, or visit mightyconvoy.org.