New Genesis GV90 flagship SUV spotted for the first time… in a ditch

The all-new Genesis GV90 has been spied testing for the very first time, although our photographers struggled to capture the flagship electric SUV’s good side because the prototype had come off the road in snowy conditions and landed in a ditch. 

Fortunately, no one appears to have been injured and the car was successfully rescued by a tractor – although the presumably very embarrassed driver did try to block our snappers from taking any pictures of the future BMW iX rival.

Despite their best efforts, we managed to get plenty of pictures, plus a few with the GV90 on all four wheels, out and about on snowy Swedish roads. Based on what we can see, the design has remained true to the bold Genesis Neolun concept unveiled last year.

The Neolun’s distinctive front-end lighting arrangement, with two slim LED strips to create a diamond-like shape, appears to have been carried over to the GV90, along with the LED strips that extend onto the front wings.

Other details from the Neolun include the almost vertical front end, with huge mesh portions of its bumper that presumably help cool the motors and battery underneath. The tall roofline and traditional two-box SUV silhouette are also unchanged, as are the two enormous parallel light bars stretching across the rear. 

However, while the concept features extravagant, pillarless coach doors and no physical door handles, it looks like the production version will get a set of ordinary doors and at least a set of pop-out handles. The razor-thin digital side mirrors have been ditched for normal ones, and the turbine wheels worn by the prototype are new. 

The interior of the Neolun featured an enormous central display sitting atop the dashboard, a floating centre console, speakers just about everywhere you looked and lots of quilted materials, on both the seats and door panels. 

Some of these touches may make their way into production, but we expect the infotainment system will have a similar set-up to the facelifted GV60 and GV70 SUVs, both of which get a 27-inch screen that’s less tall and mounted much closer to the driver.

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Despite its enormity, the Neolun features just four seats, with the front two able to swivel around if you wanted to natter face-to-face with passengers in the back. The GV90 is likely to offer seating for at least five, or possibly up to seven, considering rivals like the Mercedes EQS SUV and Volvo EX90 do just that. 

The Genesis GV90 could use the same E-GMP bespoke electric-car architecture as the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9, but some reports have suggested it’ll be the first model to sit on the Hyundai Motor Group’s new eM platform.

The new set-up is being developed specifically for electric passenger cars across all segments and, according to Hyundai, will allow for a 50 per cent improvement in driving range on a single charge compared to current models, in addition to supporting Level 3 autonomous driving or higher. The eM platform will also utilise the group's new ‘Integrated Modular Architecture’, with the goal of standardising key components such as the battery and electric motors. 

Either way, the GV90 is likely to feature an 800V electrical system for ultra-rapid charging, a 100kWh+ battery pack for nearly 400 miles of range and a selection of single-motor, rear-drive or dual-motor, all-wheel drive powertrains. After what happened during testing, hopefully Genesis will give it a Snow mode, too.

The Genesis GV90 is expected to arrive next year, and could come to the UK. If it does, prices would probably start around the £100,000 mark.

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