Genesis ramps up performance car development efforts

Luxury brand Genesis will lead ongoing development of the Hyundai Group’s high-performance engines, suggesting quicker versions of its cars are in development as it bids to establish itself as a rival for Audi, BMW and Mercedes – and potentially further underlining the production potential of its trio of X concepts.

Confirming that Genesis will lead high-power combustion engine development, Mark Choi, head of product planning for Genesis, said: “As a group, we are looking at the most efficient ways of developing combustion engines as we approach the electric era, but at Genesis, it is clear that we want to be differentiated. We can’t just carry over from our sister brands.

“We want to separate ourselves on the more high-performance side. We are not keen on a high-performance sub-brand or anything like that, but we do talk about developing ‘effortless’ powertrains – enough power to be enjoyable in all circumstances, and which satisfies the luxury experience.”

Highlighting the striking X Coupé, Convertible and Speedium family of concepts, Choi added: We’ve had great feedback, and we’re looking into it. The next steps are to decide if it’s first possible and then feasible.”

Talking about feasibility, head of design Sangyup Lee, who spoke of his desire to launch a halo coupé, said: “The flush shapes we want for the cars are not easy to make in production, especially around the A- and B-pillar. These are challenging engineering details that we need to be perfected before we can proceed.”

Genesis has committed to launch only new electric vehicles from 2025, creating a line-up of at least six cars thereafter. However, it will continue to offer existing combustion-engined cars from that point, phasing them out only according to differing local regulations up until 2030, when it will be fully electric. It has pledged to be carbon neutral as a firm by 2035.