We knew the Genesis SUVs were coming and Thursday Genesis officially unveiled all of its new GV70. The car is Genesis’ second SUV following the very beautiful GV80, and it is just as slick as its sibling.
Genesis is the luxury division of Hyundai, much like Acura is the luxury division of Honda, Lexus is the luxury division of Toyota, Infiniti is the luxury division of Nissan, Lincoln is the luxury division of Ford, Cadillac is the luxury division of GM, Audi is the luxury division of VW, Maserati is the luxury division of Fiat Chrysler, Jaguar is the luxury division of Tata, and Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, and Tesla are the luxury divisions of Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, and Tesla. Let’s not even get into what Rolls-Royce is.
The point is that luxury makes a lot of money for automakers, which is why Hyundai is bothering with Genesis to begin with, given that, much like in the American truck market, brand loyalty is very strong and convincing a Mercedes or BMW buyer to go Genesis will always be a tough sell.
That said, have you driven a Genesis lately? The cars are as great as they need to be, at least by my estimation. I don’t expect the GV70 to be any different. Let’s excuse the deeply useless window behind the C-pillar for the moment and just admire the lines (and wheels):
The interior looks like a luxury car interior in the year 2020: It’s a little too busy but Genesis can hardly be faulted for that since every luxury carmaker does it. The screen looks clunky on top of the dashboard, too, but, again, no luxury carmaker really does interiors all that well aside from them all generally feeling like “luxury.” (Scratch that: Volvo’s are pretty good.)
The point of the Genesis GV70 interior, meanwhile, is ovals. Ovals everywhere:
In its release, Genesis did not give details about price or powertrain, but you can expect this thing will be north of $40,000, as the GV80 starts at $48,900. A GV70 with all the bells and whistles will probably be above $50,000, or even north of $60,000. The powertrain probably won’t different than the base GV80's 2.5-liter turbo four-cylinder. But you’re not getting this car for power, per se. It’s all about style.
Genesis said it will arrive in the US next year.
