Genesis rarely does a concept car without their being some sign of production intent and that’s certainly the case with the Genesis GV80 Coupe Concept, unveiled at the 2023 New York Auto Show. Auto Express got a tour of the latest Genesis model with Genesis design boss Sangyup Lee.
“This is a concept, but it’s more of a production teaser,” said Lee. “We don’t do concept cars for show business, we do concept cars for more serious reasons. It’s teasing what is actually coming in the line-up.”
The new model is based on the GV80 SUV, but with plenty of design touches to differentiate it from its more sensible sibling and give the coupe a more sporting look and feel.
“Genesis design relies on athletic elegance and this has clear proportions as a sports SUV – it has a strong, sporty character but still with a lot of space inside of it.
“The wheelbase is the same as the GV80, but that’s a more mainstream SUV where this has a completely different look to it – and the colour definitely helps!
“This car has the strong potential to illustrate Genesis’s performance with this colour – it illustrates what Genesis performance credentials could be. You look at the front which is still elegant but with a strong, sporty character with extra air cooling.”
The side profile with its clean lines – reductive according to Lee – features seamless twin LED light strips called ‘two-line architecture’ that flow around from the front of the car, a theme that continues around the back with more LED lights. “We can’t do it along the middle of the car because it wouldn’t get homologated,” Lee tells us, “But when the law allows, we’ll actually continue the two lines around the vehicle.”
A subtle carbon fibre lip spoiler on the fastback rear door sits above a diffuser under the bumper to underline the concept’s sporting intentions, with the drop in the roofline pushed as far back as possible “to protect rear head clearance on the back seat,” according to Lee.
The proportions of the car were Lee’s biggest challenge. “When you see many coupe SUVs they look like an afterthought,” he says. “We needed to introduce more balance even though we share much of the car with the GV80.”
The bright orange exterior with contrasting black and carbon fibre highlights is mirrored inside where black quilting features orange stitching with carbon fibre used to lift the standard GV80 interior. “We used colour and material to give it a different shape to the GV80,” Lee tells us. “We use the performance orange colour accent around the whole vehicle to give it more of a performance character.”
“It’s a four-seater with a grab handle in the rear,” Lee says referring to the protruding centre console between the twin rear bucket seats, while the boot still offers plenty of space behind rollover protection for the concept only.
The standard GV80 uses either a 2.5-litre petrol or 3.0-litre diesel engine in the UK, although a 3.5-litre V6 is available in other markets. There’s no word yet on what power a production GV80 Coupe might use, though, or on prices – although the fashion seems to be for coupe SUVs to be slightly pricier than their standard siblings. The GV80 currently starts at just under £60,000.
We expect the GV80 Coupe to go on sale later this year, which seems to be backed by Lee who told us, “You’ll see a production version sooner than you might think.”
Now read our review of the Genesis GV80…
