DRIVEN: Genesis GV60 – Auto Futures

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The GV60 is a big car for Genesis. It’s the marque’s first model to be built on a completely bespoke platform designed for electric cars.

It also marks the start of the company’s pretty ambitious electrification plans – from 2025, Genesis has vowed not to release any new internal combustion engine cars. By 2030, it will have an entirely electric lineup and by 2035, it will be completely carbon-neutral.

The GV60, then, sets the tone for the company moving forwards. How will the premium arm of Hyundai sell its electric dreams to the drivers of Europe? And, more importantly, will buyers be swayed from the more established brands in what is an already extremely crowded space?

Auto Futures got behind the wheel of the all-electric crossover in Frankfurt to find out.

Genesis GV60 Pricing

Let’s start with some numbers. In the UK, the GV60 starts at £47,005 for the 168 kW, rear-wheel drive, single motor Premium model.

The 160 kW + 74 kW all-wheel drive, dual motor Sport model starts at £53,605. Finally, the 360 kW all-wheel drive, dual motor Sport Plus model starts at £65,405.

It’s fair to say that the GV60 is not a cheap car by any stretch of the imagination. 

Dominik Kling, the Product Manager for the GV60, told us that it is aimed at young couples in their thirties or forties who may or may not have children but lead an active lifestyle. However, he was also quick to point out that this doesn’t necessarily mean young urban families – the GV60 is a car for young rural families, too.

There are a range of optional extras that can be added to the GV60, as well. The “Innovation Pack,” for example, costs £2,070 and adds reverse parking collision-avoidance assist, dual front LEAD headlamps with adaptive beams, forward collision avoidance assist and junction turning crossing assist, remote smart parking assist, surround-view mirror cameras, blindspot monitoring, highway driving assist, and a heads-up display. 

The “Comfort Seat Pack” and “2nd Row Comfort Seat Pack” cost £2,790 and £600, respectively, but can be bundled together for £3,390 – a saving of precisely £0.

These packages give the driver an “ergo motion seat” – allowing you to electrically adjust the driving position.

You also get electric lumbar support for the passenger, electric cushion extension for the driver, driver side bolsters and cushion adjust, heated and ventilated front seats, “Premium Relaxation” seats in the front, an electric tilting, telescoping, and heated steering wheel with a memory function, a “premium” air filter, and ambient lighting.

Rear passengers, meanwhile, get laminated rear glass, heated seats, and a “manual” (read: pulled) rear side curtain.

Nappa leather seats cost £2,310 and “Performance” Nappa leather seats cost £250.

The £880 Outdoor Pack adds roof rails, a personal lamp, and the very handy “Vehicle-to-Load” plug allowing you to draw power from the car to an external source, and an inside socket plug.

A B&O speaker system will set you back £990 while digital exterior mirrors and preview electronically controlled suspension – which scans the road ahead and primes the springs and dampers for a smoother ride – will set you back £1,240 and £650, respectively.

The GV60 comes in the Alta White paint you see in the photos here for free but, should you want the loud Sao Paulo Lime or any other colour, you’ll need to pay upwards of £740. 

All told, the GV60 compares relatively well to its competitors such as the Tesla Model Y and VW ID.5 on base price. But there is the very real possibility of getting carried away with the options list – that’s not to say that its rivals throw everything in for free either, but it is worth bearing in mind.

The Premium and Sport Plus models we drove will set you back £56,865 and £76,835, respectively – that’s £9,860 worth of options on the Premium model and £11,430 on the Sport Plus. The GV60 might be aimed at young(ish) couples but they’ll both need to be in pretty well-paying jobs to get their hands on one when it goes on sale next month. 

It’s also worth stressing that Genesis sells cars differently from most other automakers – what it calls the “Genesis Difference.”

In practice, it means that you buy the car direct from Genesis (i.e. it has no franchise dealerships and, therefore, no price haggling) and you get a “personal assistant” to help you from inquiry to ownership.



Drivers also get five years of warranty, servicing, roadside assistance, courtesy cars, and map and over-the-air software updates and improvements.  

Genesis GV60 Driving and Performance

That’s enough about money – for now, at least. 

The GV60 can often look pretty large in photos but, in the metal, it’s a fair bit sleeker and smaller – much closer to a traditional hatchback than an SUV. At 1.58 metres tall, it’s around 9 cm taller than a regular VW Golf but 3.5 cm shorter than a VW ID.5. It’s 2 cm shorter than a Tesla Model Y.

The 2.9 metre-long wheelbase is lengthier than both the ID.5 and the Model Y, for example, but these wheels are pushed right to the corners, so there are only small overhangs at either end. The 16 cm of ground clearance certainly isn’t enough for any real kind of off-roading, either.

On the road, all those numbers mean that while you do get a high-ish driving position in the GV60, it feels relatively keen to be chucked into a corner – particularly in the “Sport” driving mode. 

The GV60 has two other driving modes – Eco Plus and Normal – and each driving mode makes genuine, tangible changes to the driving experience.

The Sport mode, for example, stiffens the suspension and reduces body roll noticeably as well as quickening the steering. It also tightens the seat bolsters significantly, hugging you into the seats and providing a lot of extra support. The first time the seat bolsters tighten can be a bit of a surprise but, after a while, you get used to it. 

The Eco Plus mode, on the other hand, changes the character of the car completely. Acceleration slows noticeably and the regenerative braking is ramped up. Using the paddles behind the steering wheel, you can dial the regenerative braking up and down from what feels like no regenerative force at all to what Genesis calls “i-pedal.” The i-pedal function allows for complete one-foot driving and it is surprisingly intuitive and easy to get used to – and is particularly helpful in dense city traffic.

The Sport Plus version of the GV60 also comes with two big party tricks: a Boost Button and Drift Mode.

The Boost Button gives an extra 20 kW of power on each motor for 10 seconds, meaning a maximum output of 360 kW. The Drift Mode, meanwhile, has a nuclear football-esque activation process. Put the car in park, then select the Sport driving mode, continue to hold the brake pedal until the ECS is turned off, and then hold down both wheel-mounted paddles for three seconds – and then, finally, Drift Mode will be engaged. We sadly didn’t get to try out the Drift Mode during our time with the GV60 – much to the relief of Frankfurt’s citizens and the local Polizei.

We did, however, get to try the Boost Button and we’re pleased to confirm that it turns the GV60 Sport Plus from a fast car (it can hit 62 mph in four seconds, go from 50-75 mph in two and a half seconds, and hit 146 mph flat out) into a very fast car. 

Even the slower Premium version of the GV60 has a decent turn of pace. 62 mph is dealt with in 7.8 seconds, while 50-75 mph takes 5.1 seconds. The dash from 0-30 mph – essential for in-town driving – is pleasingly brisk, as well. The top speed is 115 mph. 

However, it isn’t particularly clear why the GV60 needs either of these features or the outright pace.

Drift Mode is hardly relevant on the school runs and staycation drives that the car is likely to be doing. Similarly, while the Boost Button might pique the interest of any car enthusiast friends, the pin-you-to-the-seat acceleration it delivers will only induce tears from young children in the backseat – and they won’t be tears of joy. 

Again, when we asked Dominik Kling he told us that while the car’s performance and features aren’t going to win any customers buy themselves, they were included to demonstrate the high-quality engineering of the car and how serious Genesis is about electrification. 

Genesis GV60 Interior and Storage

Most GV60 buyers will be more interested in the interior and the storage, rather than the sub-five second sprint to sixty. And, again, we’re pleased to inform you that all the signs are generally pretty good.

Boot space, for example, is 432 litres – smaller than an ID.5 and a Tesla Model Y, for example. With the rear seats folded and the rear window covered, Genesis claims that you can fit up to 1,550 litres of stuff in the back – more than enough to drop your child off for their first term at university. 

The cars we drove had the optional suede headlining as well as leather-trimmed dashboard and seats and it was all very nice. The rear legroom is pretty good, so it should be fine for kids. 

However, there are a few points that might throw drivers who are not used to EVs.

The interior, for example, is dominated by two enormous 12.3-inch LCD displays. One serves as the gauge cluster and can be changed to show a variety of data points including the range, sat-nav directions, efficiency, and so on.

The other touchscreen controls the radio, media, sat-nav input, and pretty much everything else to do with the car – save for the driving modes. Plus, should you choose the rear-view cameras instead of the traditional wing mirrors, you get another two big screens at the bottom of the A-pillars on either side. All told, it’s a very busy cabin at times.

Confusingly, there is also a BMW i-Drive-like controller for the in-car features, allowing you to manage all of the functions without using the touchscreen.

It’s slightly confusing and it is a bit unclear why Genesis decided to double-up on the controls. The steering wheel, meanwhile, is festooned with buttons that can control the radio and change the information displayed in the gauge cluster, for example. However, the functions of many of the buttons are not immediately clear.

The centre console is enormous, as well. It’s dominated by the dial for controlling the in-car features and the spinning Genesis Crystal Sphere – which puts the car into park, drive, and neutral.

When driving, we found ourselves accidentally reaching for the Crystal Sphere when we were looking for the controller. Some of the switchgear – such as the buttons on the steering wheel – lack a bit of weight and feel a bit plasticky. 

However, we’re really nit-picking here. The interior of the GV60 is a very nice place to sit and spend time. Once you’re used to the slight quirks (and the novelty of the Crystal Sphere has worn off) everything becomes easy to manage and understand. 

Genesis GV60 Range and Charging

Genesis claims that the Premium version of the GV60 can manage up to 321 miles of range on the combined cycle – so bits of highway and city traffic. City range, meanwhile, can apparently get as high as 429 miles. 

The Sport and Sport Plus models, however, get shorter ranges. Genesis says the Sport model can hit 292 miles combined or 395 miles in the city. The Sport Plus can only manage 289 or 386 miles, by comparison.

Driving both models, it’s clear that these numbers are not that far off. In city driving with the maximum regenerative braking and i-pedal switched on, we barely saw the range dip at all as the car was constantly topping itself up. On the autobahn and during some spirited driving in the hills outside Frankfurt, the range dropped significantly but, as ever, this is to be expected with electric cars. Most GV60 buyers will be perfectly happy with the range 

Charging times, however, remain consistent across all the variants. 350 kW chargers will top up the GV60 from 10-80% in 18 minutes, while 50 kW chargers will take an hour and 13 minutes. 11kW wallbox chargers will top it up from 10-100% in seven hours and 20 minutes while a regular 230-volt domestic charger will take a little over 34 hours. 

Should You Buy the Genesis GV60?

As its first electric car built on a dedicated platform, Genesis needed to make an impression with the GV60. 

With the performance figures, stylish design, wide-ranging feature set and its noticeably premium price, it seems likely that the GV60 will make a decent ripple in the market. Prospective buyers might still have to explain to their friends what a ‘Genesis’ is but they’ll know that they’ve bought a thoroughly decent EV.

It might be a bit on the pricey side (particularly once you started going through the options list) but the GV60 should definitely be on your list if you’re on the look for a new premium electric hatchback/crossover thing.

For Genesis as a company, meanwhile, the GV60 certainly seems as though it could be a real breakout model. People will stop and look when they see one in the street and, once they realise just how quick the Sport Plus version is and how impressive the Premium model’s range is, it should help position the brand at the forefront of drivers’ minds.

Source: https://www.autofutures.tv/2022/05/12/genesis-gv60-review/