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Genesis Essentia is not yet headed for production, despite some reports

As we told you a couple of days ago, Erwin Raphael, the head of Genesis North America, spoke to a gathering of Detroit media, saying of the Genesis Essentia Concept, "We are very committed to the Essentia." If adapted to a production car, he continued, it would be "a limited edition" and "a statement car." We took that quote for what it was — aspirational, a strong intent, but not greenlighted. But some in attendance heard that the show car is headed for production. Nope, not yet. Jalopnik cleared this up via a Genesis spokeswoman: "Genesis is pursuing the feasibility of Essentia — but as of now, there's no production confirmation," she said. "Some reporters may have gotten ahead of themselves based on speculation. No timelines to share at this time." But take heart. If — again if — the Essentia were to be produced, Raphael wouldn't peg numbers or prices, just that the performance EV would be more dear than any Genesis on sale right now. The standard production Genesis G90 5.0 Ultimate AWD starts at $74,350 before destination, but the Genesis site quotes an "all-inclusive price from $84,000," italics ours. So it doesn't seem unreasonable to suggest a small-batch electric coupe on a one-off platform with major OEM engineering behind it will step into six-figure territory. And though Raphael and the spokeswoman didn't offer a timeframe, Genesis boss Manfred Fitzgerald, in an earlier interview, said his team was pushing to get the electric coupe built and on the road by 2021 or 2022. So how much diluting of the concept would Genesis designers need to do to satisfy real-world prerogatives? Apparently, not much. Fitzgerald said previously that everything on the Essentia show car is "technically" feasible, although Hyundai design chief Peter Schreyer said the butterfly doors would probably be subbed out for traditional units. The best of the rest could actually make it down the line. Based on our conversation with designers Luc Donckerwolke and Sangyup Lee when the Essentia debuted at the New York Auto Show in March, we figure the pontoon fenders, knife-edge LED headlights, pushrod-like suspension, and that gorgeous quilted leather interior with the floating, full-width screen and layered 3D carbon fiber are shoo-ins. We wouldn't be surprised to see that fully transparent hood become a transparent window in a more conventional hood, and the bubble-glass canopy get more reinforcement.

Genesis G70 about to hit showrooms, as the showrooms are being figured out

Genesis has been around as a standalone brand for a few years now, and it's just about to launch its third car: the impressive G70 sedan, which we first drove back in September 2017 and again last month. The sales process has been unclear, though, and the upstart luxury automaker is hoping to change that. Erwin Raphael, general manager for Genesis, sat down to chat with us and the rest of the media in Detroit about the brand. He cleared up the dealership strategy for the near future and even left us with some intriguing news related to the Essentia Concept. At the beginning of the year, Genesis announced it was going to ditch its Hyundai dealership digs for Genesis-specific dealers. That proved unfeasible not long after, and the brand switched to a strategy of selling the Genesis in Hyundai dealers again. Raphael explained the strategy behind that today. He says that every Hyundai dealer was offered the option to sell Genesis vehicles if they wanted. To do this, they'd need to abide by Genesis' rules. This includes the plan of having a separate facility for sales and service since the buying experience for a G90 is supposed to be vastly different than buying an Accent. Eventually, Genesis wants its cars to be out of Hyundai showrooms and within standalone dealerships. In total, about 400 dealers have accepted the Genesis offer to sell its cars and are in various stages of readiness. Raphael thinks all the dealerships will be registered and ready to sell Genesis cars by March 2019, with standalone showrooms to come later. Every version of the G70 will be on sale this month, though, so Genesis is preparing for what it expects to be its highest-volume car yet. You'll have to wait until early 2020 for the brand's first crossover, though, according to Raphael. It can't come soon enough, as Genesis continues to face sales headwinds with its all-sedan lineup in a time of sharply declining sedan sales. It sold about one-third as many cars in August as it had sold in August 2017. And Raphael hinted that we shouldn't give up on the Essentia Concept quite yet. "We are very committed to the Essentia." If adapted to a production car, it would be "a limited edition" and "a statement car," Raphael says. It would be a bold move for Genesis to come out with an electric supercar or even something like it, but we certainly wouldn't complain. For now, the brand is hoping to get back to actually selling cars, with the addition of the cheaper G70 sports sedan.

2020 Genesis G80 shows its face and more in new spy photos

The last time we saw a Genesis G80 out testing, we suspected that it was going to borrow from the GV80 crossover concept and the Essentia sports car concept. These latest shots of the midsize luxury sedan confirm our suspicions now that the car has lost a large portion of its camouflage. It's mostly down to a vinyl wrap, revealing the new grille and much of the body. Up front the car clearly has the parallel light elements and five-pointed grille of the aforementioned concepts. The grille is still enormous, but it's not nearly as tall as that of the current model, which helps make the nose look less bulky. The distinct shape also helps give the Genesis more of an identity compared with its handsome if generic-looking predecessor. Moving along the side shows another cue taken from the GV80 and Essentia: a strong character line that runs from the grille, over the hood and along the flanks. This crease arcs all the way back to the taillights, and it sits just above a shoulder line that marks where the car gets wider. The door handles sit in this shoulder line and are positioned lower than on the current car. Together, these changes help add some visual interest to the G80's sides, and also make the car look lower. At the back, it's clear the G80 will have a more sloping, fastback-like profile. It looks a bit like the hatchback shape of the Audi A7. Whether it will be a hatch or not is yet to be seen. We also get a good look at the taillights, which are quite large and share the same design as the headlights with parallel bars on each side. We can see that the edge of the trunk lid ends in a sort of pseudo spoiler, too. We expect a production model to be shown within a year, possibly two. The car looks like it's very far along in development, so it could show up relatively soon, but the company has also run into delays with models like the G70. Based on these photos, we're expecting this to be a completely redesigned car, rather than just a heavily updated version of the current one. Related Video:

2020 Genesis G80 spied for the first time with GV80 concept cues

Despite scarcely selling cars, and with the G70 only finally about to hit dealers, Genesis continues to plug along, as evidenced by the new 2020 Genesis G80 shown above. The camouflaged car hides minor details, but it can't hide the fresh face with design elements taken from the GV80 crossover SUV concept. There are also some hints that this is more than just a refresh for the Genesis sedan. Up front, the grille and headlights are clearly based on the aforementioned Genesis SUV concept. The grille is enormous, taking up most of the front-end real estate. It also has the concept's pointed lower section. The headlights are also based on the concept, with two distinct elements parallel to each other. Another interesting aspect is the amount of air inlets below and to the sides of the main grilles. They take up most of the rest of the nose. Moving around the side, the roofline and windows look extremely similar to the current G80. Though the little kink in the rear windows doesn't look as steep. Looking closely, it appears the door handles sit much lower on this car than the present G80 model. This all suggests either a substantially updated version of the current iteration, or a totally new car. The rear of the car also departs from the current car with how low the top of the trunk is. The result is a lower, less bulky tail to the new G80. The taillights also look slimmer compared with what's on sale now. If the car continues to borrow from the GV80 concept, its taillights will probably be split into two parallel parts. We expect this car to show up sometime in the next year or two, likely as a 2020 model. There's a chance that it could be delayed beyond that, similar to the G70, which was supposed to launch earlier this year, but is only launching this summer. We also wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of delay to meet the brand's deadline of 2021 to launch its other models — especially some much-needed crossovers. Related Video:

Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.

Genesis designer Luc Donckerwolke talks new sedan, 'post-SUV' phase

Luc Donckerwolke's office at the Hyundai Research and Design center outside of Seoul looks like an Apple store, all polished concrete, metal and glass and a Miesian lack of ornamentation. This makes sense in an environment in which Donckerwolke, as head of design for the Hyundai and Genesis brands, is attempting to privilege transparency: enhancing communication and accessibility. "We have to break this kind of castle syndrome that the designers are in," Donckerwolke says. "It's all about opening up." This undermining of Korea's traditional orchestrated, hierarchical and executory structure is part of what has allowed Donckerwolke to create widely admired concepts such as the GV80 SUV and Essentia electric GT in just more than two years since he arrived from the VW Group leading design at Bentley, Lamborghini and Audi. And also to design the all-new G70 sport sedan that will be introduced to the U.S. market later this summer. We drove the G70 just before arriving for an exclusive one-on-one at Donckerwolke's R&D office, the first American journalists to visit. Although our time behind the wheel was brief, and we drove only the top-of-the-line, 365-horsepower, twin-turbocharged V6 version, we were impressed with the acceleration, the balance and the material quality. We also noted that the G70 is very good looking, with a distinctive, muscular and aggressive mien that feels true to the company's mission to be at once "Audacious, Progressive and Distinctly Korean." Like much of what we saw and experienced in contemporary Seoul, the car hosts a unique blend of influences from America, Europe and Asia while offering a harmony of line and a grounded sense of self that seems endemic to the peninsula. This global-but-flavored template is intentional. "We are not going to do Korean cartoons on wheels," Donckerwolke says. "We're not going to become a patriotic Korean movement. It's only about the essence of the Korean culture that we are using as an inspiration." One thing we could not help but notice is that the G70 is a sedan, joining a pair of older, Hyundai-based sedans, the G80 and G90, to complete the Genesis lineup. This feels somewhat inauspicious in the moment, especially for the American market where two-thirds of new-vehicle purchases are trucks and SUVs. "As you probably have seen when you've been driving around, sedans are extremely demanded here in Korea. And, you know, we have a huge market penetration here.

Genesis nabs top initial quality ranking from J.D. Power

Luxury nameplate Genesis has won the top spot in a new J.D. Power survey of overall initial quality, continuing an impressive string of third-party reviews for the two-year-old Hyundai spinoff brand as it prepares to launch its third model, another luxury sedan. Genesis ranked highest in J.D. Power's overall initial quality study with a score of 68 problems experienced per 100 vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. The luxury brand's parent Hyundai Motor Group fared well, with Kia coming in second and Hyundai third. It was the first time that three Korean brands topped the J.D. Power study and the fourth straight year that Kia was the highest-ranked mass-market brand. (We should also point out that Autoblog has raised concerns with the way J.D. Power weighs reliability issues; this year's rankings, for example, put well-respected brands Subaru and Volvo in the bottom four of all car brands.) Earlier this, Genesis year also topped Consumer Reports' list of top 10 brand rankings based on road testing, reliability, safety and owner satisfaction scores. Elsewhere, both the 2018 Genesis G80 sedan and its flagship G90 four-door won a coveted Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also gives the G80 five-star reviews across the board in its own crash-test ratings, though it hasn't yet issued ratings for the G90. Despite these wins, the brand has stumbled in its rollout, and sales haven't exactly ignited. First, it said it would launch a limited, exclusive network of showrooms in a few dozen select markets and then reversing itself this spring by saying all existing Hyundai dealers would have the opportunity to sell the luxury brand. Meanwhile its U.S. sales in May fell 39 percent from May 2017 to 1,076 units. Year-to-date, Genesis had sold 8,288 cars, which is 18 fewer cars than it had moved from the same period in 2017. It will be hoping for a sales boost when it launches the G70 sports sedan this summer, the third of six new models Genesis plans to introduce by 2021 and the final sedan in the lineup. Related Video: Image Credit: Genesis Genesis Car Buying Luxury Sedan JD Power genesis g90 genesis g70 genesis g80

Genesis changes its mind on retail plans

Genesis will apparently open the doors to its nascent dealership network to all existing Hyundai dealers, reversing its earlier plan to launch a separate, much more limited retail network as a way to distinguish the brand. The brand's general manager, Erwin Raphael, told Hyundai's dealer council last week that Genesis would allow all Hyundai dealers the opportunity to sell the luxury brand in the U.S. That amounts to a 180 on plans announced in January, when the two-year-old spinoff said it planned to build out a network of about 100 Genesis retailers in around 48 mostly urban luxury markets, with first dibs on the franchises going to high-performing Hyundai dealers. The plan was to have separate branding, with the long-term goal of having them all operating out of standalone facilities after launching in temporary or shared showrooms. Per Automotive News, Genesis will no longer confine its sales to those 48 markets. All Hyundai dealerships will be able to apply to be licensed as Genesis dealers, though 2019 models will only be shipped to the newly franchised Genesis retailers. About 350 "elite" Hyundai dealerships that already sell the G80 and G90 sedans can continue to sell them, or take previously offered settlement money and move on. Those who become or remain Genesis dealers will have to sign new or separate franchise agreements that were expected to go out this week or next. Genesis will still require separate, standalone stores and service facilities. The news will likely please Hyundai dealers who have been frustrated or confused by Genesis's rollout strategy and are eager to play a role in the brand's growth. It also could provide a sales lift for Genesis, whose sales during the first four months of 2018 fell 17.5 percent to 5,390. They'll also be hoping for a boost when the compact G70 sedan launches this summer. Related Video:

2019 Genesis Essentia Concept | Insights on an elegant design

One of the biggest stunners of the New York Auto Show came from an unlikely stand — that of Genesis, Hyundai's nascent luxury spinoff. The Genesis Essentia Concept was described as a multi-motor EV with a 0-60 time of 3 seconds and enough silicon to pass the Turing test, but that's not what made it special. It stood out because it's downright gorgeous, a proper show car seemingly plucked from the golden age of pre-OPEC oil embargo dream machines. Genesis's press release claims the Essentia "elevates and reimagines the 'Athletic Elegance' design paradigm," which sounds like some hard-core marketing nonsense. There's a lot more to the car than what buzzwords can convey, though, so we tracked down its designers, Luc Donckerwolke and Sangyup Lee, to get their insights. Both men are Bentley veterans and know a thing or two about luxury brands. And, despite their insistence that a good luxury design should speak for itself, we made them talk about what makes the Essentia unique, how it will inform future Genesis road cars, and what Genesis DNA even means. Lee, vice president of Genesis design who previously worked at Porsche, Pininfarina, and GM where he designed the fifth-gen Camaro, started off with a dose of brutal honesty and a wry grin. "The world of premium cars can exist just fine without Genesis," he declared. As such, the designers were given a seemingly impossible task. How does one justify Genesis's existence in a luxury market crowded by Germans, Japanese, Americans, and Brits? The brand is just two and a half years old, and not only does it lack history, but even its country of origin is not typically associated with Old World richness. "When you see Burberry, you think London. When you see Chanel, you think Paris," Lee continued. "What comes to mind when you think Seoul?" Thus, the challenge became designing a car that not only defined Genesis, but an entire culture. "It's a luxury brand that is not aggressive or arrogant," explained Genesis design chief Donckerwolke, a Belgian who headed Lamborghini's design department and ushered in its angular era by penning the Murcielago. "It matches the Korean attitude of being humble and the country's reputation for high tech goods." Traditional Korean art and design also prizes minimalism. "There's a beauty of emptiness," Donckerwolke noted. "Koreans are expert in orchestrating white spaces and not overpowering with too much clutter." Lee offered a specific example. "Take calligraphy.

Genesis Essentia Concept embraces electric performance

Startup and established automakers alike have been waking up to — and embracing — the idea that electrification doesn't have to be just about efficiency. There's a huge performance potential for electric vehicles, a fact that Tesla has capitalized on, and other brands are following suit. Korean luxury car manufacturer Genesis is the latest to join the party with the unveiling of its Essentia grand touring EV concept at the New York Auto Show. It embodies the GT format well, with a long hood, a low, swoopy roofline and an upscale interior. The Essentia features a carbon fiber monocoque, with the chassis visible through the transparent hood. Aerodynamics heavily inform the look of the car, from the nose cone to the air curtains and the giant functional air outlets behind the front wheels. The car ends abruptly above a large rear diffuser. The copper color of the wheels is repeated in a strip surrounding the Essentia's glasshouse. Genesis includes thin, laser optical headlights that extend along the side of the car aft of the front wheels, with their double-line look repeated in the rear lighting. It tops off the visual package with butterfly doors that open via fingerprint and facial recognition sensors. View 17 Photos Inside, the Essentia's cockpit wraps around the occupants in a wide arc visually connecting the dash and doors. Genesis uses a mixture of different materials throughout, from chevron-patterned leather seats, layered carbon fiber on the dash and center console, and a widescreen display across the dash. There's also a digital instrument cluster for the driver, surrounded by piano black behind the flat-bottomed steering wheel. The all-electric Essentia features a "high-density battery pack" powering the multi-motor powertrain. The car departs from the usual under-floor battery pack, instead positioning it the center tunnel running between the seats. Being a concept car, precise technical details are scarce, but Genesis estimates a 0-60 mile-per-hour sprint of just 3 seconds. In terms of technology, Essentia previews the future of connected driving with vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technology. This allows the car to keep the driver up to date with weather and traffic conditions. It can recommend routes not just on efficiency or speed, but also on driver preference based on machine learning. The car can also adapt functions like performance, seat position, audio and chassis settings to match the driver and the particular road.