In September 2021, Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) announced that new Genesis models from 2025 will be purely electric. In line with that announcement, the South Korean media is reporting that the next-gen Genesis G70 and next-gen Genesis G80 will be electric vehicles, and that they’ll be made in the United States.
U.S. Production
On June 28, 2023, ET News published an exclusive report claiming that the Genesis G70 and Genesis GV80 successors will be dedicated electric vehicles based on the eM platform. Internally these models go by codenames ‘Genesis RN2’ and ‘Genesis JX2,’ respectively. We’ll be referring to them with just ‘EV’ added to the familiar commercial names in this story for ease of understanding.
The report says that the Genesis G70 EV and Genesis GV80 EV will be manufactured in Ulsan, South Korea, and Bryan County, USA. The electric sedan’s domestic production will commence in H1 2026, and U.S. production will commence in H2 2026. Likewise, the GV80 electric SUV will enter production in H2 2026, first in South Korea and then in the U.S.
HMG has set an annual production of 100,000 units for the Genesis G70 EV and Genesis GV80 EV. In 2027, the first full year of production for both G70 electric and GV80 electric, the company plans to make 35,000 units of the former (13,000 in South Korea and 22,000 in the USA) and 68,000 units of the latter (35,000 in South Korea and 33,000 in the USA).
HMG’s factory in Bryan County will be its first production facility globally to be dedicated to EVs. In addition to a vehicle plant, which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 units, this production facility will include a battery plant.
Features & Specifications
The eM platform will be the direct successor to the Electric Global Modular Platform that underpins the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, Kia EV9, and Genesis GV60 and will underpin at least two more models – a yet-to-be-announced Kia EV debuting later in 2023 and the Hyundai Ioniq 7.
The eM platform will have a much wider scope than E-GMP, which should allow HMG to price models more competitively. The company has confirmed 13 EVs so far, 4 each from Hyundai and Kia and 5 from Genesis. It plans to offer them with new features and capabilities like a swivel in the first row, a pop-up display, L3+ autonomous driving, Remote Smart Parking Assist 3 (RSPA3), and controller firmware OTA update support. The Genesis GV80 EV, being in the higher-end of the line-up, should pack all or most of these innovations.
The Genesis G70 EV and Genesis GV80 EV should also get an advanced battery pack with a high energy density of 700 Wh/l. Higher energy density allows cells to store more charge, which means the driving range can be increased without compromising the vehicle’s dimensions or weight. According to the report, HMG is developing a 113.2 kWh battery pack, which is expected to deliver a range of 700-800 km, as per South Korea’s testing method, which is pretty stringent. That could be the new battery pack that goes into the new Genesis electric cars.
Release date
The Genesis G70 EV, which will rival the Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series Electric, may go on sale in the U.S. in Q3 2026. The Genesis GV80 EV, which will compete with the Tesla Model X and Mercedes EQE SUV could start arriving at U.S. dealerships by Q1 2027.
I got my Master’s in Business Management & Administration and have been an International Automotive News Editor since 2014. I’ve traveled to global motor shows and automotive events, driven various types of vehicles, and focused on hybrid and electric cars in the last 4 years.
