Who would have thought but 10 years ago that today we’d be comparing a Hyundai with established premium rivals, even traditionally design-centric ones like Jaguar. But we can and we will even though these two cars we’ve chosen might not necessarily be shopped against each other.

We’re talking about the all-new XF from Jaguar and the slightly older Hyundai Genesis sedan. The cars belong to the premium sedan segment, even if they use very different approaches in getting there.

Hyundai, could do whatever they wanted as there was no past tradition to burden the development. The Genesis sedan is not a beautiful car, but its proportions are spot on (its hood looks like it could go on for miles, and that’s a desirable aspect for one of these sedans, I think, as it makes for an imposing sight).

It’s very different looking to its predecessor that had an air of (much) cheaper Hyundai that had been blown up in size and forcefully put in a threesome situation with an Acura and a VW… The new one doesn’t look like any other car on the road, although it achieves that partly by being simple and maybe a bit anonymous.

But perhaps that’s what you want when all you’re looking for is power, handling, luxury, decent yet understated looks and, of course, a price that undercuts its main rivals (which is sadly only true for US buyers). The Genesis sedan is a left-field proposition in a sector half obscured by decades old mold that few if any newcomers were able to disturb.

The Jaguar XF could have been like that, but the Indian-owned company decided that the best approach would be to make it look like a facelifted version of the old car, while at the same time re-engineering the entire thing from ground up.

It’s probably smart to keep current buyers of the brand by using an evolutionary approach, something Jaguar is not unfamiliar with (quite the contrary, actually), but this time they’ve gone too far. I think they’ve over-Germanized their approach: they have the beautiful F-Type as an object of lust, but their other offerings are so far removed from it that the touches that do tie the models together feel forced…

It’s a bit like putting a kidney grille on a front-wheel drive box and calling it the Active Tourer, instead of the actual name it should have born (but at the opposite end of the spectrum).

You get a distilled down formula of the F-Type that gets thinner and thinner the less money you pay. You see this in the rear lights which I keep banging on about: the ones you see on the XE I think look dreadful precisely because they were designed to look worse than those of the larger, more expensive XF and those in turn are inferior-looking to the F-Type’s.

It’s not necessarily the actual visual ties between the models that make Jaguar German in its approach, but the way its models make you feel inadequate for not having had the money to get the next model up. With Maserati, if you get a Ghibli you won’t feel short-changed because it’s special inside and out (although far from perfect and a bit behind the mainstream pack for practical stuff); you won’t actually want to own the bigger Quattroporte, at least I wouldn’t.

Whereas if you have an XE, you will be made to feel… small by a passing by XF. Yes, these are one class below the Maseratis in terms of size, but there is just one class difference between them. Imagine if Maserati made a 3-Series rival and actually genuinely tried to make it appealing to enthusiasts (and cheaper than the Ghibli by 20 percent) – you would get that and feel happy with it, not wanting the next model up.

So this brings us back to the comparison of the Genesis sedan and XF. The Genesis sedan could prove more reliable (Jaguar is far from stellar here), it’s not inferior in the looks department (yes, the Jag does look better and shows more pedigree), it has a decent interior clad in squishy material, its engine range is decent (at least for the US) and it’s actually not bad to drive fast (according to reviews).

It’s not inferior in any way to its established rivals, probably only in terms of image.

The last detail to help you in telling us which of the two cars you’d have is the price: the Genesis starts from just under $39,000, with a 3.8-liter V6, while the soon to be phased out current gen XF starts at ~$50,000 with a less powerful 2.0-liter turbo engine.

What is baffling, though, is how Hyundai managed to screw up its pricing and chances of success in Europe. They’re not offering a diesel, which in this sector and age in Europe is akin to bungee jumping sans cord, and they somehow managed to make it more expensive to buy than a BMW 535i… How can it be that much cheaper in the US – are they offering it in Europe as a joke, and aren’t interested in sales, or are they expecting something else of it?

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