Hyundai Genesis vs Volkswagen Arteon

What's the difference?

Anybody who doubts that Hyundai is gunning for the number one in the world has rocks in their head. Big heavy ones. Korean companies do not settle for anything less than number one. The second-generation Genesis (our first taste here in the Antipodes as the gen-one had its steering wheel on the wrong side) is proof.

What's different about Hyundai's unstoppable rise is the way they're going about it. They've always done their own thing in Korea, reinventing themselves time and again when they strayed off the beaten path.

The Genesis is a gamble for a Korean company in foreign markets whose default setting for luxury is marked, Britain or Germany. If Hyundai gets the Genesis wrong there will be howls of derision, or at best patronising pats on the back - "Nice try, you'll get there one day". But if they get it right...

Some VW models, like the Golf, are household names. No doubt about it. But this? Well, it's probably not one of them. Or not yet.

This is the Arteon, the German's brand's flagship passenger vehicle. Put it this way, if VW's tag line is premium for the people, then this is the most premium. And the people? Well, they're the ones who might normally be shopping for a BMW, Mercedes or Audi.

The name, by the way, comes from the the Latin word for art, and it's a nod to the design focus that's been employed here. It comes in a shooting brake, or wagon, body shape, as well as this, the Liftback. And a quick spoiler alert, it looks pretty good, right?

But we'll get to all that. As well as the big question - can it mix it with the premium-brand big boys?