First, you launch a luxury automaker. Once you have a reputation in the market, the fun part starts. That’s when you launch a high-performance sub-brand that turns your luxury cars into street-legal race cars.
It’s the formula BMW followed with its M division. It’s sort of what Mercedes-Benz did with AMG (though that started as an outside shop, and Mercedes bought it). And it’s what Hyundai is doing with its Genesis luxury marque.
Genesis used this week’s New York International Auto Show to announce its own M-like division: Magma.
“The Magma program adds a new dimension to Genesis, marking the brand’s expansion into the realm of high-performance vehicles,” the company says. It plans to “develop a high-performance Magma model for each production vehicle in the existing lineup, maximizing both aesthetics and performance.”
First Model: GV60 Magma
The first of the group will be the GV60 Magma. Genesis revealed it as a concept car but immediately said it “will be among the Genesis Magma program models headed for production.”
It’s both wider and lower than Genesis’s standard GV60 electric vehicle (EV) “to enhance stability during sporty driving.” The 21-inch wheels get “integrated aero discs” to further assist with brake cooling.
Larger front air intakes provide cooling to the battery, motors, and brakes. Canards — we’re just blatantly stealing terms from aeronautical engineering now – “assist in generating downforce on the front axle.” A set of fins on the roof guide air to the rear wing to maximize rear downforce.
Genesis offered no performance details. But the GV60 shares some of its underpinnings with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 SUV. So the recently revealed Ioniq 5 N with its 641 horsepower and video-game-style “grin boost” button.
It’s painted in a burning liquid orange that suits the Magma name. Genesis is as adventurous with color as its parent company Hyundai is timid.
That color continues inside, sharing space with titanium gray on Nappa-leather-and-suede sport seats.
The company also brought a Magma version of its G80 sedan, but that one “will be exclusively available in the Middle East.”
