Genesis G80 balances beauty with performance

In partnership with Genesis

Although Genesis is one of the world’s youngest luxury automotive brands, the company is forged from decades of auto industry experience and a strong understanding of the role of design. The company’s G80, redesigned for 2021, is a svelte luxury sedan that combines a strong visual presence with a sporting stance, fluid lines and a sybaritic, high-tech interior.
 
The crucial element that defines every successful car design is proportion. A sense of harmony and balance can only come from countless visual relationships across the entire structure of the car, including how the wheels sit in their arches, how the window glass relates to the body panels, the rake of the windscreen and the shape of the grille. Although every component goes together to make up the whole, there are no simple shortcuts to beauty; proportion is the key to unity.

William Lee, executive vice president and global head of the Genesis brand, describes the G80 as ‘the core of our brand’. ‘The car achieves that perfect balance of discerning luxury and inspiring performance for our customers,’ he explains, for the G80 is not just a beautiful machine, but a powerful one as well, with two engine options delivering true sporting abilities without compromising ride quality or efficiency. Refinements include the extensive use of aluminium to keep weight down, as well as special acoustic glass for the windows and an available electronic suspension system that reads the road ahead to pre-empt bumps and poor surfaces.

The G80 starts with the distinctive Genesis face, with its ‘Crest Grille’ that references the geometry found in the marque’s winged badge. The deep, broad meshed grille is flanked by what the company’s senior vice president, head of global design, Sang Yup Lee, calls ‘Quad Lamps’. Eschewing the current fashion for over-sized lighting, the G80’s frontal  appearance is refined and pared back, with the dynamic forms of the slender headlights carried into the flanks of the car and referenced by the vanes behind the front wheel arch.
 
‘Our goal is to offer unique, design-inspired experiences for our customers,’ says Lee. ‘For G80, we had to weigh up the car’s athletic and elegant characteristics without compromising either of them.’ The side view of the G80 showcases the flowing lines that create this powerful and dramatic stance. The ‘Parabolic Line’ is a feature element that begins at the headlights and runs the full length of the car, up the bonnet, across the doors before dipping down to terminate at the G80’s tail.
 
Lee and his design team describe the feature as being inspired by the forms of many classic cars, and it is especially evocative of the neat geometry and fluid elegance of classic Italian sedans and coupés from the 1960s and 1970s. The bodywork appears to shrink around the wheels, with a low chrome trim piece that defines the base of the doors, kicking upwards as it approaches the rear arch to emphasise a dynamic, forward stance. The sloping trunk lid at the rear of the car increases the accommodation, while also providing an aerodynamic and clean rear design, with the Quad Lamp arrangement mirrored beneath a discreet spoiler, above twin exhaust pipes that reference the Crest Grille.

Inside, the Genesis G80 is spacious and luxurious. The dashboard features a strong horizontal emphasis, with a 14.5in infotainment system centrally placed above the fascia and digital instruments set in an available 12.3in cluster behind the wheel. An optional heads-up display provides additional information, with a minimal number of physical buttons saved for key features.
 
In addition to a suite of class-leading active safety systems, the G80 deploys pioneering technologies like an infrared camera in the cluster to track your eye movement (with the 12.3in cluster option), a Remote Smart Parking Assist option that can be used via the key fob outside the car, and the ability to connect to Smart Home devices. The car’s occupants enjoy ambient lighting and available add-ons such as a multi-speaker Lexicon sound system, and climate control and heated seats for rear passengers.
 
The Genesis G80 is a classically elegant interpretation of the grand sporting sedan, fusing modern technology and materials with timeless proportions and bold details. Genesis design continues to place the brand on its own distinctive path.

INFORMATION

genesis.com