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THE Genesis New York Concept is a blatant shot at the BMW 3 Series. The sedan was rolled out for the first time at the 2016 New York Motor Show with a bold look and the announcement that it will team a 2.0-litre petrol-hybrid drivetrain with rear-wheel drive – but Hyundai Australia wants even more power.
Hyundai says its Genesis brand will use the New York Concept as the platform for the upcoming G70, which is what the 3 Series rival will be badged when it goes into production sometime in 2017. That means it’s likely to arrive in Australia anywhere from early 2018. And despite the claims of this as a design study, the G70 will look barely different from the New York Concept when it hits showrooms.
Yet Hyundai Australia told Wheels it was gunning for an even more powerful 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 to fit to local models. Still under development, this engine could make as much as 314kW, with rumours that it may power the N performance version of the forthcoming Genesis coupe and get even more grunt – more on that later.
While exact measurements are yet to be revealed, the NYC and subsequent G70 should be around 4.6m long, 1.8m wide and 1.4m high. It will have a similar wheelbase to the BMW 3 Series, which is 2810mm.
The Korean maker’s Genesis brand is chasing the most successful BMW, and it has a number of things in its favour. After splitting the Genesis brand from Hyundai as an official sub-brand last November, like Toyota’s arrangement with Lexus, Nissan to Infiniti and more recently Citroen to DS, Genesis has poached some top brass from German rivals and announced a bold six-model line-up by 2020.
Hyundai is also looking to streamline its Genesis dealer network here, too. While the Genesis is currently offered in all 155 dealerships, it’s looking to create specialist stockists to sell the new brand, and limit this to around 50 Australian locations.
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