Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand will soon relaunch in Australia, and the local arm is getting ready to kick off with the G80 large premium sedan. Initial specs, prices, and lineup details have today been confirmed.
Two main variants of the 2019 Genesis G80 will launch in Australia, including the G80 3.8 and the G80 3.8 Ultimate. These will then be available with the Sport Design package, which is Genesis’s bespoke sports package to spruce up the car’s personality.
As you may have picked up, the G80 comes with a 3.8-litre naturally aspirated V6 engine. It’s essentially the same engine as featured in the outgoing model, known in Australia as simply the ‘Hyundai Genesis’, producing 232kW and 397Nm. This is matched to an eight-speed automatic transmission with rear-wheel drive. Unfortunately, Australia misses out on the 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 offered overseas, producing 272kW.
Drivers are being presented with four driving modes, including Normal, Eco Sport, and Snow, all altering the throttle response and other control sensitivities. There’s also adaptive suspension as standard, with Dynamic Stability Damping Control. The local arm says the suspension does feature an Australian-specific tune, like almost all Hyundai models sold here, with thousands of kays in local testing to help fine-tune the car to suit our market.
As standard, the base model comes with a 9.2-inch touch-screen media interface packed with sat-nav, an on-board 27GB hard driver, and surround-view camera technology. Tunes are pumped through a 17-speaker Lexicon sound system, and all come with wireless phone charging.
Jumping up to the Ultimate adds a higher-quality trim for the interior with Nappa leather, heated and cooled front and rear seats, a panoramic glass sunroof, unique 19-inch alloy wheels, and a 7.0-inch TFT display for the instrument cluster.
As a bonus, buyers will be able to option for the Sport Design pack. We have seen this pack in the metal and we can confirm it does look pretty awesome on the new G80. It includes 19-inch mesh-style alloy wheels in a dark finish, special side skirts, a dark chrome front grille, unique front and rear bumper bars, and some dark satin chrome trimmings.
“The dynamic and luxurious new G80 sedan is a fitting flagship for the introduction of the Genesis brand to Australia,” JW Lee CEO Genesis Motors Australia said. “The new Genesis G80 ushers in a uniquely stylish and sophisticated proposition in the large luxury segment.”
Genesis will be launching the new G80 in June this year, with the highly-anticipated G70 mid-size sedan expected to follow shortly after. See below for the starting prices of the new G80 (excludes on-road costs):
2019 Genesis G80 3.8: $68,900
2019 Genesis G80 3.8 Sport Design: $72,900
2019 Genesis G80 3.8 Ultimate: $88,900
2019 Genesis G80 3.8 Ultimate Sport Design: $92,900
