Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
Spied earlier this year in South Korea with fake exhaust finishers, the eG80 has been spotted again a few thousand miles away in Germany. Hyundai operates a technical center there, and this time around, no exhaust tips can be seen.
Camouflaged from head to toe, the prototype in the photo gallery also features Michelin tires. But those are not low-resistance rubber shoes, oh no! Take a look at the checkered flag on the sidewall. Yup, those are Michelin Pilot Sports.
Zooming in on the mid-size sedan’s profile also reveals something fishy going on with the sills, but then again, remember that this isn’t the final design. Up front, the most telling sign that this is an electric vehicle is the enclosed grille. Only the lower grille has openings, and we can also see two air dams in the front bumper.
As far as the interior is concerned, we’re dealing with a left-hand-drive vehicle as well as a half cage that renders the rear seats obsolete. The safety upgrade, however, is there for a reason. The Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center in Russelsheim is complemented by a testing facility at the Nurburgring, and yes, this fellow appears to gear up for hot laps on the Green Hell for suspension tuning.
Being an electric vehicle, the eG80 or whatever it may be called is a little heavier than the internal combustion-engined G80. Think about the electric motor – or motors – and the lithium-ion battery sandwiched into the sedan’s floor.
SK Innovation is the company that supplies the battery pack, and rumor has it that Genesis is targeting more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) between charges. Level 3 autonomous driving technologies are also in the pipeline, most likely from Samsung SDI. The two companies are also eyeing solid-state batteries, but no such battery has been developed thus far for series-production vehicles like the eG80.
Reports from South Korea suggest a starting price of more than 100 million won or $84,500 at today’s exchange rates. That may seem expensive at first glance, but don’t forget how much a Tesla Model S costs in the Asian country. To the point, the Long Range can be had from 107,990,000 won, converting to $91,200.
Zooming in on the mid-size sedan’s profile also reveals something fishy going on with the sills, but then again, remember that this isn’t the final design. Up front, the most telling sign that this is an electric vehicle is the enclosed grille. Only the lower grille has openings, and we can also see two air dams in the front bumper.
As far as the interior is concerned, we’re dealing with a left-hand-drive vehicle as well as a half cage that renders the rear seats obsolete. The safety upgrade, however, is there for a reason. The Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center in Russelsheim is complemented by a testing facility at the Nurburgring, and yes, this fellow appears to gear up for hot laps on the Green Hell for suspension tuning.
Being an electric vehicle, the eG80 or whatever it may be called is a little heavier than the internal combustion-engined G80. Think about the electric motor – or motors – and the lithium-ion battery sandwiched into the sedan’s floor.
SK Innovation is the company that supplies the battery pack, and rumor has it that Genesis is targeting more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) between charges. Level 3 autonomous driving technologies are also in the pipeline, most likely from Samsung SDI. The two companies are also eyeing solid-state batteries, but no such battery has been developed thus far for series-production vehicles like the eG80.
Reports from South Korea suggest a starting price of more than 100 million won or $84,500 at today’s exchange rates. That may seem expensive at first glance, but don’t forget how much a Tesla Model S costs in the Asian country. To the point, the Long Range can be had from 107,990,000 won, converting to $91,200.
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