Yahoo Autos The 2020 Genesis GV80 Will Be the Luxury Brand's First SUV
What It Is: The 2020 GV80 is the first crossover from Genesis, Hyundai's quickly evolving luxury brand. These spy photos are our first look at the SUV, and we can see that it is sticking close to the concept from 2017. We can see the same shield-shaped grille, thin dual LED headlight strips, and sloping greenhouse that the concept had, and this camouflaged prototype shares the concept's same rear-wheel-drive proportions.
Why It Matters: The SUV market is big, especially in the United States, and it is growing rapidly. The GV80 is the first of multiple Genesis SUVs coming in the next few years, and it's in one of the most important segments: the mid-size luxury crossover, currently dominated by the likes of the Audi Q7 and BMW X5. Genesis purposefully launched its sedan lineup first, but the company knows that its new SUVs will likely be its bread and butter-thus taking its time to develop and perfect the GV80 and the following, smaller GV70.
Platform: The GV80 will ride on the same all-new rear-drive platform as the upcoming next-gen G80 sedan. Rear-wheel drive will be standard, with all-wheel drive as an option. Not much else is known about the platform, but it likely will underpin the next G90 as well as a potential larger GV90 SUV.
Powertrain: We expect the GV80 will come with the familiar 3.8-liter V-6 as standard. Both a twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6 and a 5.0-liter V-8 will likely be options. Down the line, a hybrid variant will surely appear. Don't hold your breath for a performance-oriented GV8o in the vein of Hyundai's N brand, though.
Competition: Audi Q7, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Volvo XC90.
Estimated Arrival and Price: Genesis has said that the GV80 will debut at some point in 2019 before going on sale in the United States in early 2020 as a 2020 model. Like other Genesis models, the GV80 should undercut its competition by at least a few thousand dollars. That means a starting price of around $50,000 for the base V-6 GV80.
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