- Genesis’ all-EV product plan will add some HEVs and PHEVs
- Emissions standards and customer demand are driving the full-EV-lineup delay
- A 2.5-liter turbo-4 hybrid seems likely
Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand is continuing with plans to augment what was to be an all-EV lineup with hybrids, citing customer demand, reports Top Gear.
Five years ago, the automaker felt electric-car demand would surge. Genesis boss Mike Song said in an interview at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, “but the market and the customers now want hybrid more than EV, so we really want to bring Genesis hybrid into the market as soon as possible.”
In its 2021 “blueprints for electrification,” Genesis laid out that all new vehicles for the brand from 2025 on would be either battery electric or hydrogen fuel-cell—on the way to all-EV or fuel-cell by 2030. But in addition to changing customer demand, the current state of European emissions standards means Genesis feels less pressure to move that quickly.
2025 Genesis Electrified GV70
Genesis vehicle development boss Tyrone Johnson told Top Gear that now, a few years after the initial plan for EVs had been laid out, it’s clear that the brand can meet regulatory standards and give drivers some choice in how quickly they adopt electrified vehicles.
Genesis first hinted that it would backpedal on its EV plans earlier this year, when unnamed sources within the company told the Korean Economic Daily that the automaker would begin launching hybrids in at least some markets next year. The report said Genesis was developing a hybrid powertrain based around a 2.5-liter engine, likely for use in the G80 sedan and GV70 SUV.
2024 Genesis GV60
Genesis currently offers all-electric versions of the G80 and GV70 in the U.S.—with the latter built in Alabama—as well as the GV60, based on the E-GMP dedicated EV platform also used by Hyundai and Kia. A big Genesis GV90 electric SUV is reportedly on the way as well.
Ford and General Motors have also discussed adding more hybrids alongside EVs, with GM even embracing plug-in hybrids that it once shunned. Mercedes-Benz, one of the more direct rivals to Genesis, has delayed its EV targets, which would have seen the luxury brand go all-electric in some markets by 2030. It now plans to keep combustion engines in its lineup well into the next decade.