Genesis, Hyundai Motor Group’s luxury brand, has a new big SUV stuffed with the kind of perks typically associated with fancy Chinese EVs.
On Wednesday, it unveiled the GV90, the automaker’s first full-size electric SUV. The new flagship puts Genesis in the same big-luxury-EV lane as the Cadillac Escalade IQ, Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV, and Lucid Gravity.
If your lifestyle calls for heated wood floors and coach doors, look no further than the Genesis.
Along with the standard GV90, Genesis revealed the more opulent GV90 Neolun, which features rear-hinged coach doors and eliminates the conventional fixed B-pillar between the front and rear doors.
The front seats can also swivel 180 degrees while the car is parked, turning the cabin into a face-to-face lounge.
The Neolun “Executive Suite” configuration is even more extravagant. It’s a four-seater SUV that comes with a refrigerator, tables, privacy blinds, and a glass roof with adjustable transparency across six zones.
The second row is also furnished with a real wood floor that features radiant heating. Genesis said the feature was inspired by Korea’s traditional underfloor heating system known as “ondol.”
This kind of amenity-rich electric car is fairly common in China’s luxury EV market.
NIO’s ES9 SUV, for example, comes with massage seats, a refrigerator, and a “private tea lounge” thanks to a magnetic table that keeps teaware in place.
Zeekr, another Chinese brand, has the 009 Grand, which places a 43-inch smart screen on a partition separating the front and rear cabins.
The seven-seat GV90 still comes with the basics expected in a luxury EV. It has an estimated range of 310 miles based on the company’s internal testing and can charge from 10% to 80% in 22 minutes at a 350-kilowatt fast charger.
And yes, Genesis says the GV90 gets massaging seats, too.
One advantage the Genesis likely won’t share with some of its Chinese counterparts is competitive pricing. The NIO ES9 Executive Premium Edition starts at RMB 498,000 — about $74,000 at Wednesday’s exchange rate.
At that price in the US, you’re looking at a well-equipped Toyota Sequoia Limited or a Ford Expedition. Not an executive-lounge cabin with heated floors.
Genesis hasn’t yet announced a US price for the GV90. A spokesperson for Genesis Motor North America said pricing will be announced closer to the start of sales.
Read the full article here
