Genesis GV80 crossover spied with less camouflage, huge wheels
Fri, Jun 7 2019
Instead of cladding and armor up front, it's mostly just skin-tight printed camouflage. This defines some elements for us like the air intakes on the corners of the front bumper and even the headlights. The grille itself is more visible than before, and the diamond mesh grille design is even clearer. Genesis clearly isn't shy in showing that particular element off, and it looks even bigger than what we can see uncovered. The hood itself still has all the padding on it, but there most likely isn't anything too nutty under there anyway.
We're sure your eyes are popping out of your heads as much as ours are at the size of the wheels. The previous GV80 we saw had much more conservative, smaller wheels than this one does. If we were to put a number on it, we'd say they're 21s. That's no surprise given the giant wheel frenzy we're in today, but you do always give up soom comfort for that style. This particular wheel setup will most likely be reserved for the highest trim GV80s out there.
The deal out back is largely the same as before. We're still greeted by the lovely tent-hatch thing that conceals the SUV's final form. Two massive outlets for exhausts are chiseled out, but the exhaust itself appears to only exit from one side on this test vehicle. Perhaps this indicates different powertrain choices will have a different number of exhaust port outlets, or that one side of the production exhaust won't actually be functional.
Curiously enough, this GV80 is tugging along and testing with a BMW X5 — it's pulling it from a tow hook in the rear. We saw shots of a Kia Sorento prototype doing the same exact thing the other day. Whatever they're doing, it's peaked our interest.
Genesis has previously said the GV80 will debut sometime for 2020, but we're halfway through 2019 at this point. It doesn't seem like we're terribly close to being able to buy a Genesis crossover, but that far-off release date sure doesn't seem very far off anymore.
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By Zac Palmer
See also: Hyundai Group design chief wants more differentiation between models and brands, 2020 Genesis G80 will not come with a V8, Genesis 'very, very serious' about getting Essentia EV coupe on the market.