(CNN Business) Competing in the luxury car market without any SUVs in the lineup is like playing football without linemen. It's asking to get run over. That's why it was crucial for Hyundai's luxury brand, Genesis, to finally have its own SUV.

The GV80 SUV, which made its US debut at an event in Miami Tuesday night, could be a game changer for the South Korea-based auto maker. Up until now, Genesis has offered only sedans, even as customers have been increasingly turning to SUVs . Mercedes-Benz has eight different SUV models in the United States, while BMW offers seven. Even Porsche, a luxury automaker renowned for sports cars, makes two SUVs and both are now its bestselling products.

Today, Genesis sales are miniscule compared to these established luxury brands. Last year, it sold 21,000 cars in the United States. BMW sold more than twice as many of its 3-series sedan alone.

The new Genesis GV80 SUV is intended to be the Hyundai luxury brand's new flagship model.

Still, Mark Del Rosso, head of Genesis's North American operations, boasts that last year's sales doubled from the year before. That was largely thanks to sales of the new G70, an award-winning sporty sedan.

After the new GV80, Del Rosso said, Genesis plans to soon add at least one more SUV to its lineup and an electric vehicle. That would give the company a total of six models. Genesis's growing lineup increases the possibility that the auto maker could one day mimic the success of Lexus, just 30 years old but already one of the world's leading luxury car brands in both sales and prestige.