Hyundai and Kia's luxury brand Genesis has changed its plans for full electrification and will focus on hybrids instead of fully electric cars. Hyundai's premium brand has given up on the idea of producing only electric cars after 2025, writes InsideEVs.
Instead, the company will switch to more mass-produced gasoline-electric cars, and then to sequential hybrids, in which the gasoline engine plays the role of a generator and is not connected to the wheels.
The first new Genesis hybrid will be the GV70 crossover. According to Korean media, in 2025 the Genesis GV70 will receive a gasoline-electric powertrain, and in 2026 - a sequential hybrid. Thus, the crossover will be the first Genesis model to have four types of powertrains in its lineup.
It is currently available with traditional internal combustion engines and in a fully electric version. "Parent" Hyundai will also shift its focus to hybrids. The company assured that its sequential hybrids will have a combined range of up to 900 kilometers (full tank plus 100 percent charged battery).
Hyundai expects to be able to increase global sales of gasoline-electric vehicles to 1.33 million units per year by 2028. Genesis, in turn, hopes for strong demand for electrified vehicles in the United States - one of its key markets.
Genesis is far from the only premium brand to reconsider its radical electrification strategy under the pressure of market realities. Thus, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Aston Martin, Volvo, Porsche and Bentley admitted the failure of the idea of rapid and complete “greening” of the car fleet.