{"id":1775778,"date":"2026-02-17T11:22:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775778"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:22:52","slug":"hyundai-goes-a-bit-lamborghini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775778","title":{"rendered":"Hyundai goes a bit Lamborghini"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHyundai goes a bit Lamborghini<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\tBy Angus MacKenzie<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished: Today 11:22
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\t\"Hyundai<\/p>\n

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GT signals Genesis is serious<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t View all Genesis Reviews<\/span>
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\u25ba\u00a0The Hyundai Motor Group aims for luxury
\u25ba\u00a0And Genesis is the brand to do it
\u25ba\u00a0The plan behind the brand<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Like this? Get more CAR delivered to your browser!\u00a0Click here to add CAR magazine as a preferred source on Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The luxury perceptions that underpin their badges allow the German big three to charge premium prices. But as Honda, Nissan and Toyota have painfully learned with their respective Acura, Infiniti and Lexus attempts to grab a piece of the action, cracking this profitable paradigm is very difficult.<\/p>\n

So why does Hyundai think its Genesis brand can succeed where they failed? A decade after Genesis was spun off as a standalone brand Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) president and CEO Jos\u00e9 Mu\u00f1oz says the company now has a clear understanding of how to make it a true luxury name and the tools with which to make it happen.<\/p>\n

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It starts with the product. Most Lexus models have been based on the same platforms, many of which are front-wheel drive, as their quotidian Toyota cousins. Genesis vehicles \u2013 apart from the electric GV60 \u2013 are all built on unique rear-wheel-drive platforms that endow them with not only more upscale proportions, but also better dynamics and refinement.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Genesis vehicles are completely different [from Hyundai and Kia models],\u2019 says Mu\u00f1oz. \u2018Their platforms are different, their technology is different, and the performance is different.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Much of that is down to years of careful work by Luc Donckerwolke, the former Lamborghini and Bentley designer hired to replace Peter Schreyer as HMG\u2019s design chief in 2017 and now chief creative officer of Genesis. A string of acclaimed Genesis concept cars, from 2018\u2019s Essentia through the X trilogy of 2021, previewed design elements and luxury themes that appeared on the second-generation Genesis G90 saloon and GV80 SUV.<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s the Genesis Magma GT pictured here that really underscores the vaulting ambition Donckerwolke now has for the brand \u2013 an ambition, crucially, shared by HMG executive chairman Euisun Chung, who, on seeing a video the Genesis boss sent of the mid-engine supercar concept driving out of the design studio, texted back a single-word response: \u2018Wow!\u2019<\/p>\n

The Magma GT concept is more than just aspiration and wishful thinking: preliminary engineering work is underway on a production version that is likely to appear before 2030. Technical details are scarce, but sources suggest the Magma GT will be built on an aluminium monocoque chassis \u2013 less costly to produce than one made from carbonfibre \u2013 and may be powered by a turbocharged 3.2-litre V8 derived from the engine powering the Genesis GMR-001 WEC hypercar.<\/p>\n

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The exterior design of the production Magma GT is still being tweaked. \u2018I think it\u2019s a bit safe,\u2019 Donckerwolke says. \u2018I want the production car to be more polarising.\u2019<\/p>\n

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A mid-engine supercar from a Korean car maker might seem a stretch, but it\u2019s a vehicle type \u2013 and a business model \u2013 Donckerwolke well understands from his time at Lamborghini. He calculates the production Magma GT platform should be good for 14 years, and that the key to profitability with supercars is to introduce a constant stream of variants.<\/p>\n

\u2018You launch the base car, then do an S, and a GT3, and do a roadster. Then you give the car a big midlife facelift and do it again. It\u2019s not rocket science,\u2019 he says. More importantly, unlike Toyota, which dithered over launching the shrieking V10-powered Lexus LFA for years and then left it to wither and die in the marketplace, Genesis is creating a brand ecosystem in which the Magma GT makes sense.<\/p>\n

Genesis plans to homologate the Magma GT for GT3 racing and will produce GT3 race versions for sale to private teams under the direction of former Renault and Alpine Formula 1 boss Cyril Abiteboul, who has been head of Hyundai Motorsport since the end of 2023. But racing is not just about branding or credibility, says Mu\u00f1oz. He sees an opportunity to use both the GT3 and WEC programmes as an opportunity to excite and engage talented young engineers at HMG.<\/p>\n

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And it\u2019s also good business: Ferrari and Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche make money building, selling, and providing engineering support and spare parts for their GT3 race cars.<\/p>\n

\"Hypercar<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Magma GT is also intended to be the halo car for the Magma sub-brand. But what is Magma? <\/p>\n

\u2018Through Magma, we\u2019re injecting adrenaline into the Genesis DNA,\u2019 says Donckerwolke. That much seems clear from the spec sheet of the dual-motor GV60 Magma electric SUV, which makes more than 600bhp and hits 60mph in 3.4 seconds.<\/p>\n

There will be a Magma variant of every mainstream Genesis model, but Magma isn\u2019t just about orange paint and raw performance, Donckerwolke insists. Two other Magma concepts \u2013 the X Gran Coupe and the Wingback estate \u2013 illustrate his belief that one of the future strengths of Genesis will be its ability to quickly develop and profitably manufacture low-volume niche products as standalone Magma models. \u2018I strongly believe in not having a monoculture of cars,\u2019 Donckerwolke says.<\/p>\n

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Like the Magma GT, the X Gran Coupe and Wingback are not clickbait. Each has been carefully designed to be as easy and cost-effective to build as possible. \u2018The cars are very executable very fast with a minimum level of advance investment,\u2019 Donckerwolke insists.<\/p>\n

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The key to making all this happen is what Mu\u00f1oz calls \u2018the power of the group\u2019. HMG is one of the most vertically integrated car makers in the world. It makes its own powerplants \u2013 combustion, plug-in hybrid, electric \u2013 and its own transmissions, and has 50 affiliate companies with expertise in everything from advanced robotics and AI to electronics, steel making, manufacturing equipment, finance and logistics.<\/p>\n

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That degree of vertical integration is why HMG has been able \u2013 unlike Jaguar, for example \u2013 to quickly pivot away from plans to make Genesis an EV-only brand by 2030. Going forward, every Genesis model will be available with a hybridised powertrain. That is partly why Mu\u00f1oz predicts Genesis will be selling 330,000 cars a year worldwide by 2030, up from the current 225,000 or so. While North America will remain its biggest market, the company plans a concerted push into Europe, where sales are targeted to increase by 650 per cent over current levels by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

\u2018We wanted a car to compete with the S-Class,\u2019 said Akio Toyoda of the original Lexus LS400 in 2011. \u2018However, back then we did not regard Lexus as a brand, but as a distribution channel.\u2019 And that\u2019s a key insight. It is why Lexus vehicles were sold for many years in Japan as Toyotas, and why Lexus did not have brand or product champions at a senior level within the Toyota organisation. Many of the Toyota managers who were cycled through Lexus were short-termers who barely understood the concept of a luxury brand. HMG clearly isn\u2019t making the same mistake with Genesis.<\/p>\n

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