November 30, 2024

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G70 Shooting Brake (Genesis)

Although sales of the Genesis G70 Shooting Brake in Europe were not impressive, selling a total of 552 cars last year, Hyundai Motor is putting high hopes on the model to catch drivers’ attention in the domestic market.

“The G70 Shooting Brake was a must for Genesis, not just to target the global market, but to complete a full, versatile lineup -- just as other luxury German carmakers like Porsche do with the D-segment. Such model types are not flagships, but add variety to the family,” Oh Min-young, a product manager at Genesis told The Korea Herald during a G70 Shooting Brake media event held Wednesday.

The G70 Shooting Brake is the first wagon model in 11 years by Hyundai Motor Group since the i40 was launched in 2011.

Under the brand’s overall luxury high-end concept, Oh said the G70 Shooting Brake will play a role as a unique, sporty model that stands out from flagship models like the Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake, Ferrari GTC4Lusso, and Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato.

Oh said the G70 Shooting Brake is differentiated from wagons not only in terms of aesthetic design, but also its originality.

“Genesis launching a wagon-like model can be seen as too sporty for a luxury brand. But when you look at the etymological background of shooting brake, it’s a term that originated in the UK in the 1890s and referred specifically to a horse-drawn cart that is used while hunting or shooting among aristocrats – which is significantly different from wagons that are built to simply load more cargo,” Oh added.

When it comes to automotive design, the vehicle’s practicality such as cargo space and sleek, authentic design are often put in a tradeoff relationship. But Genesis is confident that the G70 Shooting Brake fulfills both.

“Under our design philosophy, the G70 Shooting Brake is a model that can fulfil both the Genesis brand’s luxurious sporty concept along with a sleek profile line that sets it apart from the swoopy, not-so-pretty designs of wagons or hatchbacks,” said Seol Ji-hoon, a senior designer at Genesis.

Unlike wagons that primarily focus on spacious rear cargo areas, the G70 Shooting Brake inherited the original G70 platform. It pulled the rear trunk area to the front by downsizing the second row seat area by 40 percent, to minimize elements that harm its authentic design.

“As the G70 Shooting Brake is the first car to introduce this unique shooting brake genre to the South Korean public, we really want this model to be regarded as a new heritage model that can continuously show the diversity of Genesis models,” said Seol.

One of Hyundai Motor Group’s heritage legacy models is the Hyundai Pony Coupe, which was first unveiled in 1975.

Genesis’ effort to add a killer design can be found in the rear lamps.

For the first time, the G70 Shooting Brake comes with fragmented-style double line rear lamps, a Genesis signature throughout the entire family.

“Strong design identity often gives designers a hard time, especially at this pivotal moment when automotive trends are shifting towards electric vehicles, because we don’t need the signature front grille and flagship LED shapes any more with advanced technology. Our goal was to break the stereotypical image of Genesis’ signature graphics, and the double line rear lamp was what we wanted to play with,” said Seol.

Putting a vertical space in the rear lamp design was Genesis Chief Brand Officer Luc Donckerwolke’s idea, according to Seol.

The G70 Shooting Brake was launched in Korea with the 2.0 gasoline turbo engine model only, unlike in Europe, where the diesel model was added as an option.

“The G70 Shooting Brake will target those who seek driving comfort but with a spacious cargo area, and those who enjoy catching others’ attention for driving a unique design car,” said Oh.

“Just like Porsche’s D-segment models Taycan and Panamera, which are having huge sales in the South Korean market, we see the potential in that market with people’s changing lifestyles after the pandemic and the reasonably priced G70 Shooting Brake,” she said, adding that the carmaker aims to take significant market volume.

The G70 Shooting Brake’s price begins from 43.1 million won ($33,157) and went on sale starting Thursday.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)