Genesis Will Launch Its First Crossover In Early 2020

Launching a new brand is always a difficult task and it’s a significantly harder when the entire lineup consists of sedans when consumers are far more interested in crossovers.

That’s the situation Genesis finds itself in and it’s not surprising to learn that sales have been pretty dismal as a result of this and other factors. According to Carsalesbase data, Genesis only sold 20,612 vehicles in the United States last year and has only moved 8,490 units through August of 2018.

To put those numbers into perspective, Cadillac also is a luxury brand with a sedan focused lineup. However, the company managed to sell 156,440 units in the United States last year and has a new entry-level crossover on the way.

While Genesis got off to a rocky start, things should improve in the future. The 2019 G70 was unveiled earlier this year and it will soon become the brand’s most affordable model.

Further down the road, we can expect a handful of crossovers. The first will arrive in early 2020 and Car and Driver reports it will be a mid-sized crossover that was previewed by the GV80 concept. The publication says the model will ride on the same platform that underpins the next-generation G80 and will likely be offered with V6 and V8 engines.

One year later, the company is expected to unveil the entry-level GV70 crossover which is loosely based on the G70 sedan. The model will reportedly compete with other luxury crossovers such as the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC. While it would be natural to assume the model would use the same engines as the G70, Genesis Motor America executive director Erwin Raphael told the publication the crossover’s launch “could be a great time to introduce other powertrains.”

Besides the crossovers, we can expect at least one coupe. Earlier reports suggested the Essentia concept would be going into limited production, but it appears that’s not the case – at least officially.