The new Hyundai Genesis shows that the Korean automaker is serious about taking on not just Honda, Toyota, and the mainstream car market, but also the high-end likes of BMW and Mercedes. Road & Track took an in-person first look at the car and found that there's a lot to like with the new model, particularly when it comes to interior technology.

The car itself is just 2.5 inches shorter than the BMW 7 series and has an optional V8, so that gives you an idea of what Hyundai is aiming for here. Riding front and center in the interior Hyundai's Driver Information System, which is a multifunction controller that's similar to BMW's iDrive in that a knob can be rotated and depressed to call up various menus on the central control panel, according to the report.

The functions include hard disk-based navigation (which should be 10 times faster than conventional DVD navigation in real-world use), voice recognition, a Bluetooth hands-free mode, a USB port, a direct iPod connection, and a satellite XM/HD radio with a 30GB hard disk, according to the article. All of these functions will be accessed largely through the car's extensive fiber-optic cabling. The car will go on sale here in the U.S. this summer, starting at about $30k for the V6 version and about $40k for the V8 model.