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November 8, 2024
The new Genesis G80 is stuffed to the gills with pioneering technology and premium design.
What makes a luxury car? For most people, luxury equates to a richness of materials, a surfeit of a valued commodity – be it power, space, or pace – and an ease of connection and use that rewards the monetary outlay.
In short, you need to feel it. In some respects, the new Genesis G80 epitomises this vision of luxury, while also being rather old-fashioned. As a large, petrol-powered (no hybrid, no EV) three-box, four-door saloon car, it represents the final flourish of a typology that has driven the world’s highways for over 70 years.
Genesis, however, is a relatively new brand, certainly in the UK. Born out the mighty South Korean Hyundai, Genesis builds luxury cars at premium budgets, hoping to do for the sector what Lexus did back when it was launched in 1989.
There are two things that make the 5-metre long G80 stand out from familiar rivals offered by Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Volvo, Jaguar, and Audi. The first is the design. It’s not ground-breaking, as we’ve already noted, but it is pretty sleek and undeniably well proportioned.
The company’s design director is the Belgian Luc Donckerwolke, an industry veteran with extensive experience at the Volkswagen Group’s top tier brands, Audi, Lamborghini, and Bentley. For Genesis, Donckerwolke and his team are currently striving to create something they describe as ‘athletic elegance.’
It sort of works, especially at the rear where the long sloping tail kicks up to form a spoiler. Lights and brightwork are restrained, with the brand’s signature stacked ribbon headlights flanking a hefty diamond-shaped grille. So far, so old school, as is the soft Nappa leather upholstery and open pore wood on the dash.
Inside, technology is integrated into every conceivable aspect of the car, sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes rather more in your face. The G80’s dashboard is quite conventional in its architecture, with a (digital) 12.3” binnacle behind the steering wheel and a linear 14.5” screen nestling in the leather-topped dashboard.
Below this sits a bank of buttons and dials, with the main infotainment interface set into the wood-topped centre console. This is a clever bit of interface design, incorporating a dial, buttons, and a trackpad with handwriting recognition.
Read more at Genesis.com
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