Never in a million years would we have thought that Hyundai would ever dare take a swing at Range Rovers, Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Bentley Bentaygas, and other luxury SUVs with its very own product. But here we are, in 2024, with several high-end Genesis models available in most parts of the world and several more in the making.
Like most big names in the automotive world, Genesis, which is Hyundai’s premium car brand, will eventually go full-electric. The company has already taken a few steps in this direction and will eventually take more with its upcoming lineup. What lies in the Korean auto marque’s future? Quite a few models, actually, including a luxury SUV.
We know a few things about it, as the brand-new Neolun Concept, which is currently celebrating its public premiere at the 2024 New York Auto Show, previews it. The Genesis design team has done a great job, as the boxy appearance, clean styling, and the dual-lines lighting signature at both ends suit it like a glove. It also looks very high-end with a black finish, chrome trim, and an intricate set of wheels.
Since it is nothing more than a show car at this point, Genesis was able to go wild with the interior. Thus, it features four individual seats, with the front ones rotating 180 degrees to create a living room on wheels – or a lounge, as certain people would call it. It boasts leather upholstery, wood decking just like yachts, and what can only be called the automotive equivalent of a TV sitting on the dashboard. The overall layout is minimalistic, with only a few buttons here and there.
Photo: Genesis
The swiveling seats are not the only highlight of the Genesis Neolun Concept, as it also manages to make do without the B-pillars. If everything goes well, then the production version it previews will also have this design feature, which might inspire the peeps at Rolls-Royce and Land Rover to come up with something similar. Mind you, this idea has been used on models such as the Ford B-Max and the BMW i3, so it's not exactly revolutionary.
We don't know any technicalities about the new study from the Korean auto brand, but several outlets believe it builds on the E-GMP platform. This architecture, which underpins the Hyundai Ioniq 7 and Kia EV9, is expected to be utilized by the production variant, too, which will likely be fully electric and a premium alternative to its cousins from Kia and Hyundai.
More on the topic in due course, and in the meantime, we have to ask you this: do you like the Neolun Concept as much as we do? And would you ever consider buying a Genesis over something similar from a different car brand?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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