Snapshot: The new G70 is unveiled to compete in the most hotly contested segments around, with competitors like the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
Hyundai Motors semi-independent luxury car brand, Genesis, has finally taken the wraps off the long-awaited G70 compact sedan. Genesis is known for manufacturing some of the most luxurious and expensive cars for Hyundai, limiting its sales numbers to the elite few. This new car from the Korean automaker is the entry-level model and likely to be the brand's biggest seller.
The first ever Genesis – the G80 made its debut a decade ago as Genesis model. Genesis has slowly been building momentum ever since. While the G80 was aimed at the BMW 5-series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Genesis Equus was launched to counter the 7-series and S-Class. Hyundai then decided to spin-off the Genesis brand as a sub-brand.
Now the new G70 is unveiled to compete in the most hotly contested segments around, with competitors like the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Like all Hyundais, the Genesis models pack in a ton of features at a lower price point. The cars have been well received till now, but given the segment, they were not that hot selling. The G70, however, aims to turn around the equation.
While the pricing hasn't been announced yet, we expect the G70 to follow the same basic formula as its larger siblings. The G70 looks quite similar to the G80 or the G90 models, but a bit smaller. That's generally a good thing, as both of the elder siblings wear a far more handsome and bold design than their bland-looking predecessors. And why shouldn’t it? The car's design was led by Luc Donckerwolke, the former lead designer of Bentley, Lamborghini and Audi.
A long hood and short overhangs gives it a proper proportions. A number of small chrome accents are used to brighten the car without looking tacky. The headlights get new LED lighting up front that will soon be added to the rest of the Genesis cars. The taillights are a stretched evolution of the lamps on the G80.
Coming to the cabin, it is the reminiscent of other Hyundai and Genesis products. The overall design is simple but well organized with a right mix of buttons and knobs. The instrument cluster features two analog dials flanking a digital display. There’s an infotainment screen that’s above the dash and appears to be running the same software as current models.
The seats gets common contrasting quilted stitching. Feature wise, the G70 comes with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, two features that are not available in cars far expensive. There's also a 15-speaker surround sound system and, in Korea, a server-based voice recognition technology.
Mechanically speaking, the G70 is available with a range of engines, starting from the G70 Sport which comes with a 3.3-litre turbocharged V6 unit that makes a healthy 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque. For reference, that's more power than the BMW 340i, the Mercedes-AMG C43 and the Audi S4. A 0-100 kmph run comes in just 4.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 167 mph.
Then there's a 2.0-litre inline four engine with 248 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque and a 2.2-litre diesel engine too. The G70 packs in features like launch control, a multi-link rear suspension, torque vectoring and a mechanical limited-slip differential. Hyundai says the car has been performance tested at the Nürburgring, dropping us hint on how they good they are.
Like the G80 and G90, the new G70 also packs a whole host of active and passive safety features. There’s a pedestrian collision system where the hood is raised to help absorb some of the impact. The automatic emergency braking has been tuned to detect both cyclists and pedestrians. Other features include highway-driving assist, forward-collision assist, blind-spot monitoring and a driver-awareness warning.
The G70 goes on sale in Korea on September 20th this year, though it won't hit other markets until early next year. We are not sure if Hyundai will bring the car to India, though it was showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo.
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