2019 is a telling year for the Genesis brand. Fresh off the release of its compact G70 sedan late in 2018, Genesis will finally have a full year of sales from which to draw data. So far, the Korean automaker has seen increased sales in each month of 2019 as the company's retail network now comprises over 300 dealerships. Genesis sold 1,887 units in the month of June, bringing total sales to 10,007 vehicles for 2019 (an increase of 38% compared to 2018).

The company's growth can easily be attributed to the new G70, which only sold 408 copies in all of 2018 because it arrived at dealerships late. For 2019, G70 sales increased by 447% to 2,231 cars in Q1 and increased another 56% in Q2 to 3,484 models for a total of 5,715 units (more than half of all Genesis sales).

When a single model represents more than 50% of your business, you know customers like the new product. Even though only 4% of buyers opted to buy their G70 with the optional manual transmission, sales of the G70 are strong enough to support offering the manual for the 2020 model year.

"Our year-over-year sales growth represents far more than an uptick," said Erwin Raphael, COO of Genesis Motor America. "Over the last three years, Genesis has already earned a reputation for consumer loyalty and satisfaction, and we are now well along the way to having a retail network to begin to achieve the sales to match." Genesis also had the distinction of ranking at the top of the JD Power Initial Quality list for the second straight year.

Genesis is clearly happy with the growth, but slow sales of the G80 and G90 should not be overlooked. Both models have seen sales decline by more than 40% in 2019, proving that a refresh is necessary. A new G80 is on its way for the 2020 model year and there is already a refreshed G90 on the Korean market, though Genesis hasn't announced when it will arrive stateside.

For Genesis to truly have a sales breakthrough, the GV80 SUV needs to hit the market as soon as possible because a luxury automaker without an SUV is playing with a major disadvantage. The company has already announced plans to introduce three new models by 2021, so it looks like Genesis is ready to capitalize on the G70's popularity and ride the sale growth.