Genesis may be a relatively unknown automotive marque here, but Hyundai fans know that what was once a model line (that had the Genesis sedan and the Genesis coupe) has been a separate brand since 2015. If Toyota and Nissan have Lexus and Infiniti as their luxury marques respectively, then Hyundai has Genesis.
Being that Genesis is still a very new auto company, the international model line up is still fairly limited. There's the G70 compact executive sedan, the G80 luxury executive sedan, the much larger G90, and their only SUV: the midsize GV80.
That will be changing quite soon as Hyu- err Genesis is previewing their second SUV: the GV70.
"We are thrilled to share this early sneak preview of our second SUV, the Genesis GV70. It telegraphs an exciting new design and reinforces the core brand values that run through our lineup. We look forward to sharing full details on GV70 with everyone in the near future,” said a Genesis executive that, unusually, remains unidentified.
While the numbering implies that it will be much smaller than the GV80, that's not the case. Genesis says that it still qualifies a midsize luxury SUV; that would mean it would likely compete against the the Lexus RX.
Genesis didn't release any full images of the new model; just pictures of a cleverly camouflaged example of the GV70. Genesis says the design language is called Athletic Elegance, and it shows.
The GV70 has a rather wide stance with somewhat widened fenders and large openings up front befitting a vehicle with sporting pretensions. We can of course see the massive pentagonal-type grille (like the Superman logo) with a rather unique grille pattern, and it's flanked by split LED headlamps with horizontal DRLs. The rear has split LED taillamps too; quite striking for an SUV.
Hyundai hasn't released any more details regarding the GV70, but we expect a range of direct injetion turbo petrol engines (T-GDi) or perhaps even a smaller version of the Smartstream CRDI engine in the GV80. Being that it's a midsize SUV, a three-row configuration is possible, but we expect Genesis to just configure it for 5 persons.
Genesis says the GV70 was inspired by the way light reflects (or refracts?) from precision cut diamonds; something they call G-Matrix. Looks like we'll have to wait quite a bit longer to see for ourselves, that is if Hyundai decides to introduce the Genesis luxury brand in the Philippine market.
