Genesis 'very, very serious' about getting Essentia EV coupe on the market

Mon, Apr 22 2019

The hopes for a production version of the 2018 Genesis Essentia electric coupe concept won't go away, not even within Genesis. The South Korean luxury brand has said it will soon announce plans for its first luxury EV that will come to market in 2021. When Motoring spoke to the brand overlord Manfred Fitzgerald at the New York Auto Show, Fitzgerald said the 2021 vehicle won't be the Mint concept just shown at the show. Motoring figures that marks the Essentia as the go-to EV, with Fitzgerald telling the outlet, "We're still pursuing the one [concept] that you saw last year in a very, very serious manner and hopefully we'll make an announcement in due time."

Another reason for Motoring to deduce the Essentia as the "mystery battery-powered vehicle" is that whatever's coming in 2021 will ride on a dedicated EV platform. A production Essentia would do just that, perhaps also carrying over into production a three-motor setup powerful enough to get the car from zero to 60 in three seconds.

All three brands in the Hyundai-Kia Group have stated before, and did so again at the N.Y. show, that they tend to create concepts with production intent. Fitzgerald said, "We're serious about everything we do," and that he was working to get the Mint to make production as well. "I will fight to the very end to have this car into production and have it as you're seeing it right now on the road," he told Motoring. "I think this is an invention of a new typology of vehicle, and I think that's something that will resonate with people out there."

This isn't the first time an outlet has taken vague statements to mean production certainty for the Essentia concept. We were in this same place last September after Genesis North American boss Erwin Raphael spoke conditionally about what the Essentia concept would be if it were adapted for production. His hypothesizing turned into reports that Raphael gave "the first full confirmation that the Genesis Essentia is headed for production," which Genesis shot down.

We can't see we're any closer now to a confirmation now. All we know is the brand plans to have an EV on the market by 2021 or 2022, and that EV will ride on a dedicated architecture. Since Genesis doesn't have any EV out right now, any EV it creates — Essentia or not Â— would ride on a new platform. But when it comes to the Essentia, dreaming is a popular thing to do.

Genesis Mint Concept

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By Jonathon Ramsey