4. Hyundai Genesis
Technically this counts at 2 cars however, they were built on the same chassis structure and both wore the same name, so I am going to count this as 1 entry. By the end of the 2000s, Hyundai was beginning to up its game in terms of style, high tech features, price and warranty. They wanted to go bigger now and target the likes of luxury manufactures such as BMW, Lexus and Audi. Enter the Hyundai Genesis. Debuting at the 2007 New York International Auto Show as a concept first then the official production version in 2008, the Hyundai Genesis literally put the world on notice, attempting to replicate the same success that Lexus had received in the early 90s by offering a luxury vehicle without paying luxury prices.
The Genesis sedan was offered with either a 3.8 liter V6 or a 4.6 liter V8. Hyundai’s first ever V8 from the company. The sedan was meant to compete against the likes of vehicles like the BMW 5 series, Mercedes-Benz E Class and Lexus GS while being priced as a 3 series, C class or IS competitor. It impressed MotorTrend so much, they would have named it their Car of the Year had it not been for the Nissan GT-R.
The coupe on the other hand was meant to play in the sporty sandbox with cars such as the Ford Mustang, Nissan 370Z, Infiniti G37, Mazda RX-8 and even the BMW 335i. These cars proved that Hyundai had the resources to build appealing luxury and fun sports cars to the masses. Unfortunately, the coupes sales never took off and was discontinued in 2016 while the sedan was rebadged under the Genesis brand as the G80 and is still sold to today, having recently undergone a major transformation for its 3rd generation.