Genesis is always being compared to Germany’s luxury automakers, and now it appears that it will join those companies in making a coupe version of its large SUV. Spy photos from South Korea appear to have given us our first look at the GV80 Coupe.
Photos of a large Genesis SUV with an sloping roofline have gone viral on Korean automotive forums and suggest that, like the BMW X6, the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe, and the Porsche Cayenne Coupe, the Genesis GV80 will get a less practical, but sleeker and lower roofline variant in the near future.
The subject of many rumors, the coupefication of utility vehicles is hardly limited to those premium German brands, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that another manufacturer is looking at ways to introduce another SUV to its lineup.
Read: 2020 Genesis GV80 Is Striking But Does It Work As A (German-Style) Coupe-SUV?
While the vehicle photographed certainly looks like a GV80 with a gently sloping roofline, there are some details that give pause. For one, though the headlights are split into two strips like the GV80’s, the actual lighting elements are much more elaborate, making them look a lot like the G90’s.
Along with other images of a similar camouflage-covered SUV with a more traditional roofline, that suggests that the coupe version of the GV80 will be added when the SUV gets its mid-cycle facelift.
Although Genesis only recently brought the GV80 to the U.S. for the 2021 model year, it has been on sale in Korea since the 2020 model year. That means that a 2024 update is not outside of the realm of normality.
Genesis may be encouraged to keep the GV80 fresh, and to double up on potential sales, because the vehicle has been a success for it. In 2022, for instance, the model was the automaker’s second-best performing vehicle (just behind the GV70) and it nearly outsold all of Genesis’ sedans combined.
