Anchor: Hyundai Motor's luxury sedan, the Genesis, saw its sales in the U.S. surge 30 percent year-on-year in 2015. It also ranked third in market share in the United States' mid-sized luxury car market for the first time ever.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 
 
Report: Hyundai Motor’s Genesis sedans have taken the U.S. market by storm.
 
According to market insiders on Tuesday, Hyundai sold a total of 24-thousand-917 units of second-generation Genesis sedans last year in the U.S. That’s up more than 30 percent compared to 2014.
 
As a result, the model, which launched in the U.S. in April 2014, ranked third—its first time ever—in the U.S.’s mid-sized luxury car market. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class ranked first, followed by the BMW 5-Series.
 
Genesis sedans had ranked fifth in that market in 2010, when they were first released in the U.S. Their ranking then stood at fourth between 2011 and 2012 before slipping to sixth in 2013 and to seventh in 2014.
 
Genesis’s market share in the U.S. remained in the seven percent range between 2011 and 2014. Last year, however, the figure jumped to the ten-percent range, posting its first-ever two-digit figure.
 
Genesis’s market share in the U.S.’s mid-sized luxury car market stood at ten-point-seven percent last year. Mercedes-Benz E-Class’s market share stood at 21-point-four percent and that of BMW 5-Series amounted to 19 percent.
 
Since their release in 2014, second-generation Genesis sedans have proven their top-class competitiveness to U.S. consumers. Hyundai Genesis was among the three finalists for the 2015 North American Car of the Year along with the Ford Mustang and the Volkswagen Golf.
 
Genesis is also regarded to have top-notch safety, which has become a hot issue as of late in the U.S. The second-generation Genesis was developed based on the concept of protecting the driver in any urgent situations.
 
Last May, Genesis earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Top Safety Pick-Plus award after receiving high marks in the small overlap front crash test, front crash prevention, the moderate overlap front test, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations.
 
As a new sub brand under Hyundai, Genesis is set to unveil a new improved model of its second-generation sedan that will be named G90. The G90 will be revealed in North America at the Detroit Motor Show and launched in North America in the latter half of the year.
 
According to one market insider, the new Genesis model made up for the weaknesses of German premium brands while matching their strengths. The insider added that the second-generation Genesis’s remarkable achievements last year proved that Hyundai Motor’s Genesis brand can compete with German luxury cars in the U.S. market.
 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.