Genesis GV90 revealed as electric flagship with Rolls-Royce-style doors

Genesis has revealed its largest SUV yet, featuring up to seven seats and available coach doors like a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

While some luxury brands have been pivoting back to combustion-powered vehicles, the Genesis GV90 is an electric SUV with a massive 123.5kWh battery.

This battery is the largest yet from the Hyundai Motor Group, and incorporates a cloud-based battery management system that can detect any potential abnormalities.

The huge battery gives the GV90 500km of range on an unspecified test cycle, with this figure based on internal R&D testing of a seven-seat model. Genesis claims a 10 to 80 per cent charge will take 22 minutes on a 350kW fast charger.

The large battery powers 240kW/350Nm front and 250kW/450Nm rear electric motors, for total system outputs of 490kW and 800Nm.

Electronic limited-slip differentials are mounted on both the motors to help reduce wheel slip, while four-piston monobloc calipers with large-diameter pistons are used on the front wheels to bring this large SUV safely to a stop.

The GV90 also features multi-chamber air suspension, while rear-wheel steering helps improve low-speed manoeuvrability and high-speed stability.

The new flagship SUV debuts a new platform called eMP, which Genesis says is exclusively for the GV90.

It measures 5285mm long, 2030mm wide and between 1815mm and 1825mm tall, depending on whether it’s equipped with 22-inch or 24-inch wheels. It rides on a 3245mm wheelbase.

This makes it 225mm longer than the Hyundai Motor Group’s previous largest electric SUV, the E-GMP-based Hyundai Ioniq 9, with a wheelbase that's 115mm longer.

The GV90 closely resembles the 2024 Neolun concept, with signature Genesis design elements like ‘Two-Line’ lighting but rounder lines and simpler surfaces than smaller SUVs from the brand like the GV80.

Genesis says the styling draws inspiration from porcelain Korean moon jars, and unique design elements include a clamshell bonnet and flush-mounted ‘surface-emitting’ tail lights.

While the coach doors and absent B-pillar of the Neolun concept appeared to be concept car flights of fancy, Genesis will actually produce a GV90 with this configuration – and it’ll wear the same name as the concept, Neolun.

Genesis says its Neolun Arch Gate comprises “the world’s first independently opening and closing hidden B-pillar coach doors”, and claims it still meets “the highest safety standards” despite the absence of a B-pillar.

High-strength dual steel beams have been integrated to increase rigidity, while a concealed roll cage reinforces the passenger cabin with a frame said to be 1.5 times thicker than conventional vehicles.

The GV90 Neolun’s rear doors can open and close independently without impeding the front doors, while motorised swivelling front seats allow you to rotate them to face those in the rear – while parked, of course.

The flagship Neolun is also distinguished from lesser GV90s by its 24-inch wheels, and anodised aluminium accents between the first- and second-row windows.

There’s also a special GV90 Neolun First Edition, with a four-seat ‘Executive Suite’ configuration as standard, plus a two-tone exterior and body-colour 24-inch forged wheels. Inside, there are wool cashmere garnishes.

Inside the GV90, there’s a 23.6-inch ‘Cinematic Display’ incorporating a digital instrument cluster and the infotainment touchscreen, which runs Hyundai Motor Group’s new Pleos Connect infotainment system and features a generative AI agent.

When the vehicle is parked, you can press the display extension button to raise the screen by 90mm, transforming it into a 24.6-inch display.

A 25-inch head-up display sits ahead of the driver, and there’s a 25-speaker Bang & Olufsen Premier 3D sound system with Dolby Atmos, massaging seats, and heated first- and second-row console armrests and door trims.

While the quirky Crystal Sphere Controller has carried over from the GV60, Genesis has ditched a conventional start button. Instead, as with an increasing number of EVs, you start the GV90 by pressing the brake pedal.

There’s a total of 12 airbags on board, including what Genesis claims is a world-first roof airbag which deploys rapidly in a rollover to cover the entire fixed glass roof.

Curtain airbags extend to the third row, while airbags are also incorporated into the seat cushions to prevent occupants from sliding under the seatbelts during a collision.

Noise and vibration have been quashed with the use of acoustic glass over 5mm thick for all the windows, as well as extensive sound-deadening.

The interior features extensive Ambient Glow mood lighting and will be available with a variety of materials, including natural wood, genuine stone, and wool cashmere.

The GV90 Neolun Executive Suite elevates the interior further, ditching the third row and adding a partition between the second row and the boot.

It gains a real wood veneer floor for the second row with radiant heating, inspired by traditional Korean ondol underfloor heating, and also features a Smart Vision Roof with polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) technology that allows you to adjust the roof’s transparency across six zones.

Finally, the Executive Suite configuration features semi-aniline leather and a tower console, refrigerator and integrated tables for the second row.

Genesis has a reputation for offering distinctive and colourful interiors, and the GV90 is no exception.

The cabin will be offered in five two-tone colour combinations: Veiled Indigo and Puglia Green; Folio Brown and Batiste Blue; Vault Black and Shadow Grey; Tyrian Purple and Travertine Beige; and Saddle Brown and Shadow Grey.

The GV90 Neolun swaps out the indigo/green and brown/blue options for Regal Navy and Majestic Purple, and Quince Brown colourways.

A total of 16 gloss exterior finishes will be offered, including Jaipur Rose, Seychelles Beige and Cardiff Green, plus three matte finishes: Monashee Silver, Matterhorn White, and Makalu Grey Matte.

The GV90 Neolun First Edition will be offered with either a Jaipur Rose and Seychelles Beige exterior paired with a Quince Brown interior; a Vik Black and Baena Green exterior with a Veiled Indigo and Puglia Green interior; or a Vik Black and Sonoran Navy exterior paired with a Majestic Purple and Regal Navy interior.

"In less than eight years, Genesis became the fastest luxury brand ever to reach one million sales, built on distinctive design, class-leading innovation, and a relentless focus on our customers,” said Hyundai Motor Company CEO and president José Muñoz.

“Our new flagship SUV represents our vision for the future while embodying the very best of Genesis, staying true to the distinctly Korean values of hospitality and craftsmanship that have shaped our journey."

Genesis has yet to announce local launch timing for the GV90, which would be the largest vehicle it has ever sold here.

Australia misses out on the petrol-powered G90, the brand’s flagship sedan, which in long-wheelbase guise measures even longer than the GV90 at 5465mm.

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