(Pocket-lint) – Genesis is spreading its wings; the luxury arm of Hyundai introduced itself to Europe in 2021, having already launched in the US in 2016, but the launch of the GV60 could be the car that really cements the brand in people’s minds.

If you follow cars, you’ll know that Hyundai introduced its first car on a dedicated electric platform in 2021 – the Ioniq 5. This was followed by the Kia EV6 on the same platform and now we have the Genesis GV60.

If you’ve read any reviews – or even driven – either of those other models, then the success of the GV60 may be a foregone conclusion. Nothing of what we’ve seen so far from this new Genesis model challenges that.

Design

There’s an immediate familial feeling to the Genesis GV60. It’s about the same size as the Ioniq 5 and the EV6, sitting firmly in that crossover or small SUV space.

But Genesis, like Hyundai and Kia, isn’t throwing this car out with rugged looks; it has the road presence of an SUV without pretending that it’s going to be eating green lanes at the weekend.

That’s likely to appeal to customers as a best of both worlds, far enough removed from a hatchback-style compact, large enough to give you the interior comfort most seek from an SUV.

Much of this keen positioning comes down to the platform, E-GMP. It’s designed from the ground up as an electric car and in doing so, it avoids some of the compromises made in vehicles which share a platform with a combustion model.

The benefits are immediately obvious in the interior space that’s afforded to passengers and the flat floor.

But from the exterior you have a futuristic-looking car, the segmented lights looking like something from a sci-fi movie, while the (optional) cameras for mirrors are a sleek addition, paired with internal displays. Naturally, there are flush door handles too.

The rear of the car has a fast back, dropping off for more a more coupé-like aesthetic and the designers have had a little fun here with the C pillar design highlighted in chrome. That boot comes in at 432-litres, while there’s also a 53-litre frunk under the clamshell bonnet on the rear-wheel drive model, reducing to 20-litres on the all-wheel drive.

It looks a little sportier than the Hyundai Ioniq 5, closer perhaps to Kia’s EV6, but it certainly is a good-looking car. Whether you’ll be taken by the Sao Paulo Lime colour is a different matter.

An interior you’ll want to be in

Coming to this third iteration of cars on E-GMP, we know what to expect from the interior and as we mentioned, it’s the space for passengers that’s really appreciated. Those in the rear seats get good knee space, more generous than other vehicles with these sorts of exterior dimensions.

It’s too soon for us to judge driving comfort from this preproduction model, but we have high hopes, while that flat floor is a practicality win – it makes it really easy to slide across that rear bench when getting in or out of the car, which is really useful on the school run, for example.

Again there’s a modern approach to most areas of the interior of the Genesis GV60, a use of quality materials and that centre console between the driver and passengers seats that appears to float. That creates space around your feet that’s rare in cars.

It does throw up one quirk of design, which is that the front USB connections are then effectively down by your feet, so you might end up with a phone down in the cubbyhole at floor level. We commented on this in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and we still think it’s a strange design decision.

Returning to that centre console and things are a little different. Genesis has played with the design a little, giving us the Crystal Sphere. It’s actually the underside of the transmission controller, rotating when you start the car so you can put it in “gear” by rotating it. It’s a little detail, but it’s a bit different.

Controls are divided between the centre console – which houses most of the buttons – while the dash only really houses the curving displays and the climate control unit.

The steering wheel is big and round and that might sound like a stupid thing to say, but first impressions are that the steering wheel perhaps isn’t as futuristic as the rest of the car. There’s a lot of buttons on it, including the drive mode and a boost button, but we don’t think it’s a clean as the Ioniq 5’s steering wheel.

Paddles are provided to control the regeneration with that big digital display shining through the rear.

As we’ve not had this car on the road, as only have surface level impressions of the these elements of the car. The user interface looks good, but until we’ve used it properly, we’ll reserve judgement and just say it looks nice.

Power, range and battery

There will be three versions of the powertrain, named Premium, Sport and Sport Plus. Here’s how they breakdown:

• Premium: 77.4kWh, 168kW, RWD
• Sport: 77.4kWh, 160kW+74kW, AWD
• Sport Plus: 77.4kWh, 160kW+160kW (plus boost mode), AWD

It looks like there’s going to be one battery capacity and that’s the 77.4kWh (gross), which means that all models should get a range close to 300 miles. The cited figure we have to 466 miles (WLTP) which would be 289 miles.

Of course, we’ll verify these figures when we come to drive the car, but from our experience across Kia and Hyundai, they sound reasonable enough.

As you’ll have spotted from the powertrain options above, the entry point will be the rear-wheel drive 168kW version, before stepping up to the dual motor options driving the front wheels too. The top Sport Plus models not only has the most powerful motors, but offers a 20kW boost when you hit that button.

You can expect a 0-62 mph time of around 4 seconds on the top model, and that’s not the only thing that’s fast about this car. It also supports up to 350kW charging, so it’s fully prepared for the most powerful chargers on the roads.

That’ll take you from 10-80 per cent in 18 minutes – barely time to queue for your coffee. Charging at home is more like 7 hours 20 minutes to get it to 100 per cent. But certainly, the Genesis GV60 is well prepared for charging into the future.

Writing by Chris Hall.