That’s a bold strategy, Cotton, but it seems to be working out for luxury startup automaker Genesis thus far.
I just spent a week in South Korea with a host of Genesis executives to find out what the future for the brand is. There was Head of Genesis CMF (Color, Material and Finish) Development Team, Taeksung Nam, and Chief Designer Luc Donckerwolke. I also got to chat with Genesis Global Product Officer Marc Choi. The goal was to gain insight into where and how the automaker views itself in the marketplace, and where it’s going with immediate and future expansions.
Consumers impressed with what Genesis has done as a standalone brand in just a decade have only seen a warm-up act. What’s to come, and the pace at which it’s coming, could be a shock to the entire marketplace. Tesla shook the complacency of premium automakers when it showed that luxury can mean more than one thing. Now Genesis is coming for the spaces those brands abandoned in their aggressive swing into electrification.
[Full Disclosure: Genesis paid for travel and lodging and made me the Master of the Soju bomb for me so that I could bring you this first-hand report.]
Mercedes Who?
Posed with the question of where Genesis sees itself in relation to the competition, like Infiniti and Lexus or Mercedes-Benz and the Germans, Nam didn’t pause to even blink: “We are never thinking about the competitors,” he said.
Nam, who is the man in charge of the finest of details on Genesis vehicles, followed with, “We don’t focus too much on what others are doing,” noting that when you look at competitors, it narrows the focal point. Nam mentioned the German competition seems to put dynamic performance at the center of its attention.
Genesis’s priority is on Korean ideas and, in particular, craftsmanship, so that’s what his team of about 12 is working on, according to Nam. “Someday, maybe, we’ll put some hammering patterns into the theme,” Tam said while laughing. The Japanese competition, both Infiniti and Lexus, put an overall emphasis on craftsmanship rather than performance as well, so how much the company can use to differentiate themselves is still to be seen.
South Korea has a focus on the environment, recycling, and curbing CO2 emissions in the name of sustainability. Tam said the team is working to incorporate recycled tires and rubber into new finishes under development. Mercedes engineers revealed the German automaker was working on similar concepts back in November.
The luxury space has become so crowded with buzzwords about craftsmanship and sustainability, all in the name of producing overlapping crossovers, it’s hard to see how a luxury car that’s barely a decade old can distinguish itself on these ideas alone.
Finding White Space
On Thursday, at the 2025 Seoul Mobility Show in South Korea, Genesis unveiled the X Gran Coupe Concept and X Gran Convertible Concept. Choi and Donckerwolke stopped short of confirming the gorgeous luxury cars for production, with the former noting the automaker is currently discussing feasibility and business cases for the concepts. Both concepts looked production-ready with seat belts in the rear, finished door seals, and part number QR code stickers on the rear suspension parts.
The concepts share the same wheelbase, length, width, and most of the interior parts and some body parts with the G90. These concepts are a full-size coupe and convertible with full-size sedan legroom in the rear. The coupe’s roof was lowered 1.5 inches compared to the G90 sedan for better proportions. The removal of the B-pillar allowed the doors to be 1.2 inches longer than the G90’s front doors, enabling easy access to the rear seat. Both concepts were powered by the G90’s 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 with an e-supercharger system, but Donckerwolke said if the cars were to go into production they would feature an iteration of this powertrain that’s been further developed. Perhaps a hybrid?
It’s extremely bold for the company to enter a space that was essentially abandoned by its competitors.
Mercedes-Benz left this segment with the death of the S-Class Coupe and Cabriolet. Rolls-Royce and Bentley are both punching in with vehicles that are both smaller and at price points likely twice as much as these concepts would cost. One could even argue that the Genesis twins look more elegant than anything else playing in this area.
Genesis Is Planning To Go Dark
Genesis spokesperson Jarred Pellat confirmed to The Autopian that the new Genesis Prestige Black trim rolling out in South Korea will be coming to the U.S. later this year in a staggered launch for the G90, G80, GV80, and GV80 Coupe. The Prestige Black name in the automaker’s home market isn’t final for America, but it will be the top trim for these models when it arrives. Final packaging isn’t set yet, but in Korea these cars are blacked out with all chrome swapped for shiny black plastic trim that’s as dark as a black hole. Inside the black quilted leather is augmented with Korean black ash open pore wood with brushed brass accents. It’s gorgeous.
Tam noted that even the Prestige Black packaging is different from how competitors execute blackout packages. Whereas a Rolls-Royce Black Badge goes dark with black chrome trim on the exterior and bright-colored piping on the leather, Genesis just goes dark. It’s the less-is-more approach
‘Don’t Put Makeup On A Pig’
“I am adamant that a good design is a reduction and concentration of as few design elements as possible,” Donckerwolke said during a roundtable with various journalists. The executive noted, “This is something that needs to be seen much more in these times.”
Donckerwolke said vehicles need one design element and everything else in the design supports that element. “Don’t put makeup on a pig,” the lead designer said.
Korean culture is about minimalism, according to the company. There’s a saying that nothing is something. More than just less-is-more, it’s the idea that nothing can have its own presence. Open white space. Traditional Korean houses, known as Hanoks, were typically filled with open, reconfigurable spaces, low-set furniture, with a focus on ventilation.
As Donckerwolke explained the beauty of white space, both inside and out of a vehicle, the connection to traditional Hanok’s suddenly became clear, loosely, in the company’s ethos. Unlike many modern Mercedes-Benz vehicles, all Genesis models have a low-set horizontal dashboard, tall side glass for the greenhouse, and a functional amount of buttons without overwhelming the interior with massive screens.
Hanoks feature radiant heat from the floors, as most of the time is spent down low on the floor. In March of 2024, Genesis unveiled the Neolun concept, which is a full-size electric SUV. It had radiant heat from the floors, dashboard, door trim, seatbacks, and consoles via heating films.
Choi confirmed to the media during a round table that the GV90 full-size SUV will debut this year. The GV90 will be the production version of the Neolun concept, but it’s unclear if the radiant heating system will make it into production. Genesis’ parent company, Hyundai, unveiled a radiant heating system in August that is said to lead to efficiency gains in future EVs. The GV90 is an EV based on the same E-GMP platform as the electric GV60, albeit stretched in every direction.
Korean culture is also centered around service and ensuring everyone is comfortable. To that end, Genesis has quietly been building one-of-one cars for certain customers in the Middle East. Choi joked that a few customers actually built two-of-two cars so they could have a spare. The process is limited, and for the most part has been about custom paint colors, custom finishes, or custom details. A few requests have been made when it comes to actual design, and while limited, Genesis has tried to accommodate, according to Choi, but safety concerns arise when design changes start being requested.
The future of this level of customization could expand, according to both Choi and Nam. Hand-wrapped leather interior parts, custom finishes, and personalization are all on the table. The Korean market is probably next in line for this level of personalization and experience, as the U.S. market isn’t as developed for the brand, according to Choi.
Choi told the media during the round table that “nobody needs another luxury brand, so it’s about how you treat the customer.”
Genesis may be moving at hyperspeed with its lineup, but it’s certainly not paying attention to hyperscreens. It may even be about to incorporate an old way of doing things in the march towards a more efficient, luxurious, and warmer future… at least for your feet.
All photos by the authors unless otherwise noted
I appreciate this perspective, actually. The world already a has a Mercedes, a BMW, a Lexus, etc.
It used to be that whenever there was an article about a new American family sedan someone being interviewed about the car would always say they benchmarked the Camry or Accord when those cars were 5+ years into their lifespans and scheduled to be replaced with a new generation within a year of this upcoming American sedan hitting the market. Without fail, the new American family sedans would compare favorably to the foreign competitors for about two years before the new Japanese models came out and then spend the rest of their production runs at the bottom of every comparison. American manufacturers never really seemed to catch on to the problem with that approach.
Korea seems to have learned the lesson, though.
Hyundai and Kia were on this path for a while, also. IMO, if you look at every generation of a car like the Sonata, you can see them copying, copying, copying while building up a reputation for value and then, with enough built up good will and engineering knowhow, doing something to differentiate itself and try and surpass what they had been copying in way that was more on their own terms.
I remember when Chevy said they benchmarked the A4 Jetta when they were developing the Cruze. I had a ’01 Jetta TDI for 15 years. When I traveled for work, I never got a Cruze so I really can’t say how they matched up. I got a few Malibus, which I wasn’t fond of, and several Impalas, which I really did like.
“We don’t look at our competitors”
we just hire/buy out all the people that worked form them
A company that is known by its designs looking like all of its competitors saying that they don’t look at their competitors… riiiiiight.
as Korean, I am proud of what Genesis has become. Their cars do get very good feedback even from the ones who decided to go from Lexus and the Germans big 3.
If anybody told me that Kia and Hyundai brands will dominate in 2025 around 1998, I would laugh very hard to whoever’s face told me that joke.
To many in the trade, the only area where Koreans dominate they are becoming a laughingstock due to their inability to mass produce engine that can go over 60k miles without exploding.
Germans have been making engines that don’t last 60k miles for decades now and it’s ok. I mean they would if you change those fucking plastic chain guides every other Friday.
as a current owner of 3 BMWs I can confirm
anything with a Turbo and German is a big massive gamble as far as longevity goes.
Though, I can say that thanks to MDS/Cam Phasers and AFM/DFM, the domestic motors are not any better lately.
my one gripe is that Kia and Hyundai Dealers will not touch anything genesis. This make the ability to maintain and fix in a breakdown situation completely a pain in the ass.
The progress Hyundai/Genesis and Kia made from when they first started exporting cars to the US to now HAS been impressive. Cheaping out on immobilizers cost them a lot of brand equity. When my son was buying a car, I recommended the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tuscon, but the stigma from the Kia Boyz era (what, eighteen months?) dissuaded him.
Genesis? Did you mean Hyundai?
There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
😉
Man, I miss when the Hyundai dealer I work at also sold Genesis. They were slick and continue to get cooler.
I’ve probably moved 100 or so GVxx SUVs over the last few years and I gotta say… other than the cooled seats I hate pretty much everything about them.
They’re fast enough, ‘luxury’ enough but the ride is just wonky. I always feel like I’m perched on top of the thing instead of inside it and it just doesn’t feel balanced doing anything but going in a straight line. If someone told me the headliner was made of lead, I wouldn’t disbelieve.
Also, the carplay icon is way way too far over to the right of the screen so I have to lean forward to reach it every time it decides to change away from carplay projection when something happens.
The little sedans are cool… if they had manuals. Otherwise they’re just generic toaster ‘luxury’ for generic toaster customers.
I feel a little queasy from all that word salad.
I have to admit, I like the design inside and out better then offerings from Mercedes and BMW these days. Less screens is fantastic too!
exactly. and this is from the nation that put screens in anything. they know
They saw the writing on the
screenwall.These do nothing for me. Lexus/Infiniti/Acura do nothing for me either. BMW makes me angry because of how ugly they are, and Audi just seems stale.
Craftsmanship is good… but I think it’s kind of ironic how much of today’s “luxury” was early 00s ricer mods. Think about it: Light up Honda emblems on a civic were the definition of cheese, now BMW is illuminating their grills. People used to get indiglo gauges and put LEDs in their interior, now cars have LED strips everywhere. Puddle lights that show a little ford emblem? So cheesy. Now AMG is doing it.
Idk, it just feels like companies ran out of new ideas, and instead of competing on price, they just ad more bullshit, and more tech.
One other thing re: materials. Automakers are rarely inventing new materials; they all buy things from suppliers, and suppliers are global. Ex: Northern Engravings makes small metal parts with injection molded backings for pretty much every car company in the world. The recycled tire material you mentioned that Hyundai and Benz were looking at? Guarantee it’s a supplier trying to push a new material on them. The designers making the interior are not coming up with new materials themselves.
That convertible concept is gorgeous, holy carp.
Holy Carp
These ads are ridiculous. So much more scrolling. Just stop it already.
Adblock is your friend.
The moment it no longer works, I’m out of here xD
It’s not an upstart. They were started by hyundai. It’s like toyota and lexus, honda and acura, nissan and infinity, except I place them much further down than any of those three. They quality is just not there.
I think you might be wrong.
I would say Infinity is pretty terrible Quality, Acura is not really luxury, more Buick than Caddilac. Lexus is solid like it’s parent, though it can be pricy still and of course they are slow to innovate. quality seems to be like all things Hyundai these days, better than before. though I do still wonder how much is quality continuing to improve with so much time spent on the Gee-Whiz interior tech attempts.
I see Genesis as a tarted up Hyundai. And Hyundais are some of the ugliest, most randomly and quirkily styled cars on the road. Also: dead steering and handling, frustrating and unresponsive transmissions, cheap interior materials and poor quality. Genesis is a wannabe German luxury car, and it may actually be a better car, but it is defined by what other manufacturers have done in the past. The statement that they don’t look at the competition is a wish and a lie: they are a direct reaction to their competition and have no originality. When you see a Genesis, you think discount Korean copy of a Lexus and expect it to be a little cheaper and not as good.
“ Tesla shook the complacency of premium automakers when it showed that luxury can mean more than one thing.”
That’s nothing new. BMW and Mercedes were doing that in the 1960s to the 1980s… putting the ‘luxury’ into a quality car with superior ‘under the skin’ that consistently works like clockwork and provides a better driving experience… and selling cars based on these princibles instead of relying on bells and whistles.
In terms of ‘luxury’, current Teslas are closer to what BMWs and Mercedes vehicles used to be compared to any of the crap they make now.
“There’s a saying that nothing is something. “
Yeah that’s basically the TV show Seinfeld… LOL
And I do think Hyundai is doing a fantastic job with Genesis. They pay a lot of attention to detail. And they don’t resort to faux-snobbery by doing stupid shit like keeping their vehicles locked at auto shows… where the whole point is to show off your product. They make a great product and let the product speak for itself.
Sitting in a Genesis G90 left me openingly wondering why Ford or GM couldn’t make something at least as good for Lincoln or Cadillac to sell.
Well I have the answer to that… it’s because these days, Ford and GM take lazy shortcuts and always want to chase some quick volume instead of patiently building up a truly presigious product line.
“… it’s because these days, Ford and GM take lazy shortcuts and always want to chase some quick volume instead of patiently building up a truly prestigious product line.”
What do you think the Brougham era was all about?
It wasn’t engineering prowess, build quality, or driving satisfaction.
It was about upholstering roofs and headlamp doors, tufting velour seats, slathering on the faux wood inside, and electroluminescent exterior running lamps & faux wire wheel covers outside – and calling it “Luxury”
Said the pig to the lipstick.
That’s a bit reductive. I’ve owned a few Brougham era cars, and yeah, they had faults.
The ride quality, however, was AMAZING. Gotta give them that!
It was actually about Driving Satisfaction, since performance was a dirty word the goal was personal luxury, which for the time was one finger steering, floating boat freeway driving at 55MPH with the AC blowing cold on your nuts….oh yeah, why did we get away from the nut cooler vent?
Cost cutting.
And ventilated seats.
Vented seats are only on the upscale stuff and make you feel like you have a wet ass. should have left that for any AC car regardless of trim level.
You could state that the early S-Class Benzes were the best built and engineered cars of their time. NOT most “luxurious”, but actual lasting, meaningful “quality”. The Gen 1 Lexus LS400 was arguabley the same definition of luxury in 1990.
You’re quite right – If you were comparing a 1976 Seville with a W116, Mercedes-Benz buyers were giving up things like power seats, heated exterior mirrors and vinyl tops for excellent engineering, bank-vault build quality and thoughtful features such as indirect ventilation systems.
Of course the chasm became wider after 1980 between the Mercedes-Benz W126 and the ridiculously anachronistic new Seville…
I really haven’t been impressed by any of the newer Lexus interiors. Their focus still seems to be mechanical craftsmanship. While Genesis has nice interiors, I thought their infotainment setup was pretty slick. Still has the issue of the dealership experience – could take a page out of Lexus and copy their service bay setup too.
Glad to see you over here Joel – I hope this becomes a regular thing!
(Someone hold his coffee!)
I’m all about these two concepts – I truly hope they see production, but I sincerely doubt we’ll see them in the US given this past week’s events….
That said – This obsession with everything black – it is the cheapest, dullest, dumbest way to go. Any low-end buyer can get an all-black Toyota or Kia. Every dealer out there orders in Silver/Black, Grey/Black or Black/Black for stock – Even Mercedes and Bentley.
Luxury is Color.
Yeah, the all-black-everything look was played out 5 years ago and only the post-covid sellers market coupled with the fact it’s dirt cheap for manufacturers to do has kept it going this long.
The worst is the shiny piano-black plastic that scuffs with use and scratches the first time you try to wipe up dirt on it. Yes, it looks very nice when it’s sitting on the showroom floor, but automakers have a long way to go in materials engineering to make it workable for a lot of common car parts.
Yup, black looks so good brand new. After few years, sun, rain, water spots from rain, bugs etc. They look HORRIBLE if you don’t take care of it.
It’s not just with cars either. New houses are all grayscale or have colors so muted they might as well be grayscale. Watch someone do a home remodel and they’ll actively tear out color (from the ’70s or whenever the house was built) to toss in white, gray, and maybe a splash of brass or whatever to make things “pop”.
I see folks dressing themselves to match everything (something my mom has said several times over the decades) and it just means more darn gray.
Don’t be afraid to embrace color! <3
Gray is the new beige.
My parents had their house repainted, and Mom was so excited about every room having different colors… they were all slightly different beiges.
I don’t mind it as much with a house because the furnishings, art on the walls and other personal touches combine for a more complete picture. All of my stuff aren’t really separate from the house when you think of the overall design and you can more easily add your own color through a variety of ways.
Cars are much different. If I wear a colorful outfit or hang a mirror ornament these are not ever considered part of the vehicle design like interior decorating is with a house.
It’s also a lot easier to repaint rooms in a house to your own moods.
I get that in both cases the designers are trying to appeal to the widest set of tastes but these really aren’t the same I think.
Thanks!
Hanoks were typically filled with open spaces.
I am at a loss to understand how that is done.
I don’t see what you did there
Makes sense to me.
From the article:
“There’s a saying that nothing is something. More than just less-is-more, it’s the idea that nothing can have its own presence. Open white space.”
“We don’t look at our competitors” – sure Genesis it looks like you grabbed all the bits and pieces you like from your competitors and put them in a blender. Not a bad looking car but get real.
That talk about not thinking of the competition is just utter rubbish. Of course they have plenty of German cars in teardown. Luc came from Audi, the blacked out is from RR, the quilted seat pattern and the grill from Bentley. And a buyer will almost always compare a car with another, especially nowadays they are so similar that it’s always a relative comparison. But Genesis makes awesome cars.
That note about not paying attention to competitors is refreshing – a lot of what we love from different automakers has historically come from someone having an opinion about what a good car is and executing it (“simplify and add lightness”, “the ultimate driving machine”), not because it’s the same as what everyone’s doing, but because it’s different.
I’ve noted it here before, but it’s one of my biggest problems with the modern auto industry – everything’s a grey crossover with a CVT, because that’s where the middle of the market is, but why the hell would I buy any one of these over any other? Genesis has been a breath of fresh air because they’re clearly _not_ chasing everyone else, and they clearly care – they’re putting out comfortable luxury sedans in interesting colors and designs, and they’re knocking it out of the park.
Genesis has some very good looking cars and they seem authentic. The euro stuff as of late seems like they lost their way. It would be interesting to see a Genesis Yangwang head to head.
Joel I think you need to encourage Genesis to advertise on The Ocho.
I think it’s a bit funny that Genesis is focusing on minimalism when Kia and Hyundai are both some of the most over styled cars out there.
The “don’t put lipstick on a pig” quote struck me as extraordinarily ironic for this exact reason.
Hard to believe Genesis comes from Hyundai, but hats off to Donckerwolke for making it work!
Probably telling them that Genesis has to look and feel noticeably different from H/K to be taken seriously. Which is very true if they want you to believe they’re a first tier luxury brand. Not just a Hyundai with softer leather like Genesis started. They’re doing a good job of that so far with bespoke powertrains, design and materials not available elsewhere in the H/K line.
Money bet that changes at the next economic down turn, maybe even with these damn tariffs
The next economic downturn is now thanks to those tariffs.
The new batch of H/K designs are definitely “styled”. I don’t think they’re unattractive, but they’re a lot and I don’t think they’ll age too well
I was thinking that the over-design is explained by the cultural focus on minimalism. They are trying to provide something they are not used to doing.
I like this. The amount of competition-following that happens in the automotive industry has always been puzzling to me. But then I always get furrowed brows at work when I minimize the importance of a competitive analysis in favour of listening to people that use my company’s software. I don’t really care what others are doing…I want to build something actually useful. It’s kinda cool to see an automaker at least thinking of something similar.