Genesis' New York Concept is a sports sedan that'll make you look twice

By Jordan Golson
on March 23, 2016 05:56 pm
@jlgolson

Hyundai's upstart luxury brand Genesis — think Lexus to Toyota or Acura to Honda — has unveiled its next car. It's a sports sedan called the New York Concept and, refreshingly, it actually looks rather special.

It's not special in the sense that it's unlike anything else on the market, but at least it doesn't look like everything else on the market. One of my wife's most frequent complaints about all the cars I drive is that they all blend together. None of them stand out.

This car, I think, is interesting enough that it will break that mold.

Aimed at cars like the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes C-Class, the design team at Genesis looked to fill the New York Concept with what they call "athletic elegance." It's just a concept car for now, but Genesis plans to launch five new cars over the next few years, so it doesn't have time for design exercises. This car, perhaps without too many changes to the design, will hit showrooms soon.

The New York Concept embodies what will become the Genesis corporate design language, which will be something totally new and distinct from parent company Hyundai.

Sounding a bit like the Ritz-Carlton employee credo, Genesis says the car offers the "unexpected," while "still satisfying the needs of modern luxury buyers."

Like with many concept cars, the press release is full of highbrow talk about an "athletic stance" and a "performance-oriented nature." All I know is whether I like the look of a car — and this one looks great. The design is familiar in a good way, but it's hard to place exactly why.

My colleague Sean O'Kane called it a cross between the Buick Avista and the Lexus LC 500. I see where he's going with that, and, considering that both those cars are utterly gorgeous, it's high praise.

Expect to see something closer to production later this year.

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