Genesis has unveiled the facelift of its G80 luxury saloon in Korea, boasting interior technology and a mildly tweaked exterior design.
A relative newcomer to the premium segment, Genesis is Hyundai’s luxury sub-brand aimed at taking on the likes of BMW, Audi and Mercedes. The firm recently unveiled the facelifted GV80 SUV and its coupe variant at the Los Angeles Motor Show and now it’s the turn of its Mercedes E-Class rival, the G80.
The G80’s distinctive front end with its huge grille looks unaltered at first glance. Look closer and you’ll see the mesh pattern on the “Crest Grille” is now formed of two lines, the lower section of the bumper has also been tweaked with additional side air intakes. A new style of split five-spoke alloy wheels has arrived too.
There’s not much change to the rear. The outgoing G80’s prominent exhaust tips (on the petrol model at least) are now hidden away beneath a new-look rear bumper.
Alongside the standard G80 there’s also a ‘G80 Sport’, which gets a bespoke front grille design, a restyled front bumper with larger air intakes and a different set of alloy wheels.
As for the interior, we can see a whopping 27-inch dual-screen setup taken from the new GV80. It replaces the 12.3-inch and 14.5-inch screens on the outgoing car, but it appears there’s still a dial on the centre console to operate the screen. The lower section of the dash is still chock-full of buttons for the climate control, but these have been redesigned too. There’s even a new look to the steering wheel, although it should retain broadly the same functionality as before.
The current G80’s only internal-combustion engine powertrain option is a 2.5-litre petrol engine producing 300bhp and 422Nm of torque. This engine comes with either rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive – power coming through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It’s not known if the facelifted car has any mechanical changes.
Genesis has said it is still deciding if the G80 facelift will arrive in the UK and there’s no word on if the Electrified G80 will receive a similar update. The EV version of the G80 arrived a year after the petrol-powered model, so expect to hear more on this in 2024.
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