GENESIS Reveals Hybrid Sports Sedan Concept At New York International Auto Show

− 'New York Concept' reveals a unique approach to driver-focused luxury
− 2.0 GDi 245ps hybrid with 8-speed automatic transmission demonstrates GENESIS brand's balance of sporty agility and refined performance
− GENESIS 'Athletic Elegance' design direction further explored in a technologically advanced, innovative concept

March 23, 2016 - GENESIS has unveiled its striking 'New York Concept' luxury sports sedan at the New York International Auto Show. The New York Concept hints at future GENESIS design direction with its expressive and refined 'Athletic Elegance,' first seen in the Vision G concept and in production form with the GENESIS G90 premium luxury sedan.

Acknowledging the GENESIS brand's sporty and agile nature, the hybrid concept generates 245ps and 36.0 kgf.m of torque from its 2.0 GDi powertrain coupled with an 8-speed automatic transmission. The advanced technological features and precise design language of the concept emphasize key aspects of Korean culture, while elevating the value and perception of the GENESIS brand.

The exterior of the New York Concept presents an elegant interpretation of a luxurious performance vehicle, defined by well-balanced proportions and refined surface treatments. Inside, the concept car combines advanced technology with absolute luxury, contrasting innovative electronics against finely-crafted materials.

Manfred Fitzgerald, Head of GENESIS said: "The New York Concept is a progressive concept car that showcases the design quality of the brand. With its expressive volumes and refined design, the New York Concept truly embodies the 'Athletic Elegance,' that characterizes GENESIS products and will continue to do so for future models that come from our luxury brand. Revealing the concept in New York is a fitting opportunity for GENESIS."

Design Inspiration

The design teams took inspiration for the New York Concept from modern luxury lifestyles and products, plus the early success and progression of the GENESIS brand. They merged this confidence with forms from nature, and the process of transforming raw materials to create an uncompromised expression of pure technological art.

Designed to express the GENESIS modern view of luxury, the New York Concept brings a fresh perspective to the segment by offering the unexpected, yet still satisfying the needs of modern luxury buyers. Alongside the car's inherent performance and comfort characteristics, the New York Concept adds fresh, daring and unexpected touches through blending cultural heritage with modern art and technology.

Exterior design

The nature-inspired character of New York Concept is seen through simple yet powerful forms with voluminous surfaces and coherent features. The overall shape of the concept is characterized by a long hood and expansive dash-to-axle ratio, visualizing the car's performance-oriented nature and its resulting athletic stance.

At the front of the car, the New York Concept demonstrates power and confidence as growing attributes of the GENESIS line-up. The prominent, upright grille is visually supported by sleek, horizontal headlamps. The deep inner edge of the lamp is characterized by a pixelated light guide, giving a sophisticated, vibrant appearance. Air flow guides sit below the lamps, channeling air through the forward wheel housing. Pronounced front fender volumes, enhanced with longitudinal crease lines, complete the concept's road-focused attitude.

From the side, the sleek and tapered cabin emphasizes powerful shoulders, bringing visual power over the rear wheels and quarter panels, adding to the impression that the New York Concept can deliver the power expected of the luxury sports sedan. Short front overhangs contrast with longer rear overhangs, completing the proportions of an elegant and refined performance car.

The rear perspective of the New York Concept is distinguished by a low and sleek rear deck, further enhanced by strongly tapered body flanks. The slim, elongated taillamps echo the headlamps' vibrancy, reinforcing the sensuous and luxurious character of the exterior.

With its visually expressive form, the New York Concept is complemented by thorough and creative attention to detail. The unique treatment of the engine hood and side vents blend function with style, creating a new precision aesthetic. The integrated vents for the hood, front fenders and quarter panels improve aerodynamic performance, a reflection of the hybrid GENESIS model's fuel efficiency capabilities.

The front and rear door handles sit flush with the bodywork, integrated along the belt line of the New York Concept, further enhancing aerodynamic performance with simplicity in design. The exterior panels are finished in a custom-designed Ceramic Blue color, while copper-colored inlays in the lower bumper fascia and sills convey the uniquely modern approach of GENESIS design and material language.

Interior design concept

The interior of the New York Concept further projects the future design direction of GENESIS. It expresses a high-tech and sophisticated ambience, emphasized by the use of an advanced information control unit with a distinctively curved display.

Eliminating some of the negatives often associated with increased technological content in a luxury vehicle, the design team took an innovative direction for the instrument panel design. A 21-inch floating, curved screen incorporates driver instruments and multimedia functions, creating potential for new, sculpted forms for the front seat occupants. The digital display is combined with classic analog driver instruments. The concave screen and the convex instrument panel complement each other in an aesthetic interaction while transmitting visual lightness to the interior. The open steering wheel design is ergonomically formed to facilitate visibility of the instruments while enhancing handling control.

A logical and spacious center console divides the interior space through its length axis into two separate halves. Combined with the curved, floating screen, the Central Control Panel (CCP) creates a new user experience through a tactile and considered control lay-out. Finely polished GENESIS Concept aluminum inlays for the interior incorporate a handful of essential functional switches and reflect the GENESIS commitment to deliver high-quality design through exceptional attention to detail.

Four individually sculpted single seats reflect the dynamic attributes of the exterior while acknowledging the GENESIS focus on human-centered luxury.

Interior color and materials

The concept's interior showcases meticulously-wrapped full leather interior, with accents of anthracite contrasted with rich tan leather on seats and doors, while sliced suede leather used on the headrest brings a soft tactile accent.

Highlighting the visual connection between the instrument panel and the floor console, which to the eye looks like it is visually floating, the New York Concept uses metal for contrasting effect. Copper-toned, stainless-steel mesh echoes the copper accents of the exterior and demonstrates a new, lightweight textile approach. The New York Concept also features polished aluminum switchgear and functional elements, with small touches of copper applied on exterior accents.

Interior HMI concept

The New York Concept presents a unique Human Machine Interface (HMI) concept. With this innovative concept, GENESIS sets a new standard for user experience and function control. The New York Concept showcases how the instrument cluster and center stack are merged into one curved horizontal display, allowing a unique driver-oriented architecture.

On top of the instrument panel, embraced in a sleek aluminum casing, hovers a super-wide, curved 21-inch 4K display made by LG. Unique LG Advanced High Performance In-plane Switching technology allows for a greater viewing angle and exceptional richness in color, resulting in a more spacious ambience. The bowl-shaped Central Control Panel with 3D geometry is ergonomically optimized for usability and forms an electronic centerpiece of this unique HMI concept. This ergonomic optimization allows for intuitive single- and multi-touch finger swipes, while also enabling handwriting recognition and circular finger movements - particularly useful when scrolling through long music or telephone lists.

The user interface presents all relevant information at a glance, combining touchpads with the advantages of today's rotary dial-based interfaces. Additionally, a 3D gesture-control sensor allows the operator to 'throw over' specific content from one area of the screen to another, raising the freedom for personalizing the display information.

The New York Concept provides a glimpse into the next-generation driver interface, ready to handle the growing complexity of a connected, digital world, where user-friendliness safety and functionality set the standard.