Genesis, the luxury nameplate founded only 6 years ago, is enjoying a well-earned moment in the sun. The Korean brand has endured its share of headwinds during its brief existence, most notably the struggle to escape brand unfamiliarity and earn respect and recognition in a segment dominated by time-tested players. Thanks to a confluence of events that escalated this spring, however, 2021 is beginning to look like the year of Genesis.
The upswing started when parent company Hyundai presciently decided to stockpile microprocessor chips months before a global shortage severely disrupted the worldwide supply chain. The extra chips meant more production capacity, giving the carmaker a leg up on the competition. Hyundai reported a record 115% year-over-year sales increase in March, and Kia claimed March as their best-ever.
An unexpected incident also shifted Genesis’s fate; February’s high-profile crash of Tiger Woods behind the wheel of a Genesis GV80.
The headline-stealing incident left Woods with leg injuries, but the midsize SUV’s safety features and stout construction were widely credited for saving the pro golfer’s life. It was the kind of positive press most carmakers dream of—and the sort that could never have been planned or predicted.
Consumers rapidly began searching the internet for more information about the GV80 and its safety features, with search activity spiking in late February. The brand subsequently saw a remarkable 210% year-to-date sales climb in March.
The groundswell continued when Genesis lifted the veil on the low-slung X Concept. The evocatively designed coupe is the brand’s fifth concept car, following the New York sedan, GV80 SUV, Essentia coupe, and Mint EV city car.
The new coupe’s got more going on than just swoopy, striking good looks. First off, the concept is an EV. That’s no surprise considering automakers have been dogpiling onto battery-powered platforms in the rush to be ahead of the all-electric future.
The X Concept’s secret weapon is, in fact, its genre. While most manufacturers—Genesis included—continue to ramp up their crossover and SUV offerings, the striking X Concept big coupe aimed towards the polar opposite of the prevailing trend, gravitating instead to conventional luxury brand tropes embraced by cars like the BMW 8-series and high-dollar postmodern plug-in hybrids like the Polestar 1.
The Genesis family resemblance is still there, as evidenced by familiar touches like the brand’s Crest Grille that dominates the front end, and the brand’s “Two Lines” design theme which applies double-lined headlights which extend across the wheel arches.
“When you see two lines, you think of Genesis,” said SangYup Lee, Genesis’s global head of design, at the concept’s unveiling. Plenty of the brand’s design cues can be spotted on the vehicle, including the familiar latticework pattern and the crest shape sprinkled like Easter eggs throughout. There are also inventive details like wheels with a dual-layer design and a single centerlock holding them into place, and a “Crystal Sphere Electronic Shift Lever,” which spins and shifts to reveal drive mode settings.
Novel design is often the winning formula for concept cars, and slick looks can also lend a production car the styling cues needed to become a sales hit.
While the existing Genesis sedans, and the GV80 SUV, have established a baseline expectation for how a Genesis should look, the upcoming GV70 compact crossover expands that visual repertoire with dramatically swoopy character lines and unexpectedly inventive proportions.
The two-row GV70 is less utilitarian than the three-row GV80, but that’s part of its appeal: the crossover’s jaunty looks signal a different approach to the genre, one that’s more innovative and playful.
The fashion-forward styling has the potential to move the brand forward at a crucial moment in history when its future is still being defined. Techy features include fingerprint authentication, while Genesis offers previously seen gee-whiz extras like remote parking and a 3D instrument display to distinguish itself from other brands.
Genesis hasn’t announced a specific release date for the GV70, but the sporty crossover is expected in showrooms sometime this year.
Given the unprecedented sequence of events that have spiked recent interest in the upstart Korean luxury brand, the GV70’s launch becomes a critical domino that will either perpetuate or stall the carmaker’s growth. Anchored by volume models like the GV70, inspired by improbable one-offs like the X Concept, and famous for the heroic protection of a legendary golf great, Genesis has rapidly ascended to a place it could only have dreamed of just a few months ago.
If that momentum continues through 2021, this might very well become the year Genesis earns the mainstream popularity it has long been striving towards.