Jarred Pellat is the senior manager public relations and communications of Genesis Motor North America. It's the eight-year-old luxury vehicle division of the South Korean vehicle manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company.

A native of Canada who lived in South Korea for several years, Pellat is our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

The 2023 Genesis GV70 was the carmaker's first vehicle made in the United States. Photo © Bruce Aldrich/2022.

Co-host Bruce Aldrich was on assignment, so John Berg, a new automotive columnist and photographer for The Weekly Driver, joined me for our interview during Best of the West.

Pellat, the fourth employee of the Genesis, was a guest during a two-day gathering of the Western Automotive Journalists (WAJ), the San Francisco Bay Area organization of automotive media professionals and industry influencers.

During the two-day gathering, nine manufacturers provided 13 vehicles to test drive from our headquarters at Vinter's Resort in Santa Rosa, California. Genesis had two vehicles on site: the 2023 Electrified GV70 Prestige AWD and the 2023 Electrified G80 AWD.

Pellat discussed the two vehicles at the presentation, and we also discussed the quick ascension of the manufacturer, its eight-vehicle lineup and the growing list of accolades Genesis has received in recent years.

Please join us as Pellat details plans for Genesis, its small but growing locations of Genesis-specific showrooms and the carmaker's philosophy for its automobiles.