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Payne: In NYC, Genesis maps its future with electric performance and SUV concepts
Posted by Talbot Payne on March 31, 2024
New York — The Big Apple means big news from Genesis.
Hyundai’s luxury brand dropped two, dazzling new battery-powered concept vehicles ahead of the New York International Auto Show’s public opening, signifying a critical move for the brand into performance cars, big SUVs, and electrification. The concepts also show where the luxury market is headed as it rushes to meet government and luxury consumer demands for electric vehicles over the next decade.
The muscular, electric Genesis GV60 Magma will be the first of the brand’s Magma performance models. The sleek Neolun concept will likely evolve into the production-flagship, three-row GV90 electric production model and showed off the brand’s signature, two-track lighting design. Chasing Tesla (the best-selling luxury brand in the United States) and government mandates, Genesis plans to go all-electric by 2030 like competitors Cadillac, Jaguar, Buick, and Alfa Romeo. EVs have failed to capture mainstream buyers but have proved fashionable in the U.S. luxury market with the #2 best-selling lux brand, BMW, expecting EV sales to grow to 25% of sales from a record 15% this year.
Unlike those brands, however, Genesis is the only one at the New York show. The South Korean automaker (EVs were 9% of 2023 sales) has long made Gotham a key pillar in its U.S. growth strategy, channeling Frank Sinatra’s trademark: “if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.”
The Magma and Neolun concepts were the latest in a string of concepts introduced at NYIAS even as other luxury automakers have abandoned auto shows. Genesis introduced its first North American concept, the aptly-named New York Concept, in 2016 — then followed with the Essentia Concept in 2018, the Mint EV Concept in 2019, and the GV80 Coupe Concept in 2023.
“We tend to use New York as our stage. We love New York, and we celebrate New York with our new creations,” said design chief Luc Donckerwolke at Genesis Design House on 10th Avenue in the heart of Manhattan’s trendy Meat Packing District. It’s just four city blocks south of Cadillac’s ill-fated Cadillac House headquarters which located in Chelsea here from 2015-2019 — Genesis House opened up two years ago complete with a showroom and Korean restaurant staffed by Michelin-star chefs on the top floor.
Genesis Chief Designer Luc Donckervolke touts the Z Gran Berlinetta sportscar concept at the New York auto show. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The concepts are top drawer as well and, significantly, all-electric as governments — including New York state — ban gas vehicles sales by 2035.
Donckerwolke promised that all Genesis models from here on will receive Magma performance models. Genesis introduced its racy-looking, X Gran Berlinetta design concept last December at the international Gran Turismo gaming tournament. The 1,071-horsepower coupe can now be raced in the online game.
“Magma increases the reach of our vehicles to bring more emotions to the customer when they get into the car. It’s for a driver that wants an athletic car,” said Donckerwolke, a former Lamborghini designer, who hinted that Magma will be tested at the famed Nürburgring race track.
As a teaser for hellions to come, Genesis showed off Magma versions — dressed in hot Magma orange — of its gas-powered G80 sedan and GV80 Coupe SUV in New York. But the first production Magma vehicle to hit showrooms next year will be the electric GV60.
In big push in the Big Apple, Hyundai’s Genesis lux brand shows off the Neolun concept to media. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
While other luxury sub-brands from BMW (M series) to Cadillac (V series) established their performance cred with high-horsepower gas engines, the GV60 Magma opens Genesis’s performance chapter by bypassing gas and going all-electric.
The hatchback will go head-to-head against the Tesla Model 3/Y Performance models and electric M offerings from BMW like the i50 Gran Turismo which enthusiast publication Car and Driver has already clocked quicker to 60 mph than Bimmer’s legendary, gas-fired M3.
“The tipping point for the combustion engine is already there,” BMW CFO Walter Mertl told Reuters earlier this year, speaking of the luxury market. “The current sales plateau for combustion cars will continue and then fall slightly.”
The fierce-looking, Magma orange GV60 — slammed and widened from the standard car — is tricked out with rear wing, big brakes, and aerodynamic wheels wrapped in fat rubber. Expect it to be quick.
From the rear: the Genesis Neolun concept at the New York auto show. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“It will impress you, I promise you that,” said Genesis brand partner and legendary race driver Jacky Ickx, who was on hand to introduce the Magma line. Genesis was skimpy on details, but the Magma model will likely get similar numbers to the steroid-fed Hyundai and Kia models with which GV60 shares a platform: the 641-horsepower Hyundai Ionia 5 N and 576-horse Kia EV6 GT.
Ickx’s presence — he is a six-time Le Mans winner and twice runner-up for the Formula One championship — fueled speculation that Genesis will go Le Mans hybrid sportscar racing alongside other luxury marques like Cadillac, BMW, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Other premium brands including Lexus and Aston Martin have entered GT endurance racing.
Ickx has been associated with Porsche, Ferrari, and Ford over his racing career and is impressed with Genesis’s direction. “In car racing, drivers are the tip of the iceberg and get all the glory. But below the level of the water, there are successful people you don’t see,” said the Belgian. “I go into my new life with a winning team. (Genesis) wants to be the best.”
In battle for lux leadership, South Korea’s Genesis has a New York presence with its Genesis House in the Meatpacking District. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Designer Donckerwolke declined to speculate on Genesis’s motorsports plans.
The gorgeous Neolun (translated from Greek as “new moon”), meanwhile, signaled Genesis’s intent to compete against six-figure Mercedes and Cadillac in the full-size, electric SUV space. Mercedes makes the EQS SUV, an all-electric version of its top-line S-class, and Cadillac’s Escalade Q is an all-electric version of its iconic SUV. The Neolun will be the brand’s first, three-row electric SUV and will cost substantially less than its luxury peers.
“The Neolun Concept was inspired by Korea’s iconic moon-shaped porcelain jars,” said Donckerwolke. “It’s the epitome of timeless design and sophisticated craftsmanship.”
Genesis teed up its brand in 2014 with the flagship, V8-powered G90 sedan, and the Neulun/GV90 again points to its new focus on EVs. Painted in two-tone Midnight Black and Majestic Blue, the concept was typically over the top with coach doors, 24-inch wheels, pop-out electric roof racks, wood floor, and Purple Silk leather front seats that swivel to face rear passengers. But the exterior looked production ready with Genesis’s twin-line LED circling the vehicle — and making a V in front where a grille would be on a gas-powered car.
Lighting has become a design differentiator for EVs — see Cadillac’s front light display — and the Neulun leans into that design aesthetic.
The GV60 Magma Concept, G80 Magma, X Gran Berlinetta Concept and Neolun Concept will be on display at New York’s Javits Center through April 7.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.