Genesis Confirms They're Working On a High-Performance Hybrid Coupe

Genesis is working on a new sports car that will be utilizing a plug-in hybrid powertrain. This information comes to us via Australian outlet Wheels who spoke with two senior executives from Hyundai at the Consumer Electronics Show.

“We are definitely doing it. I’m actually reviewing the project next week, after CES. I can’t tell you much more about it, but we are definitely doing it. We are not going autonomous for all of our cars!" said Hyundai design vice-president Luc Donckerwolke.

Hyundai's vice-chairman of research and development, Woong-chul Yang acknowledged the project, saying the coupe would be a two-seater, feature some sort of electrification, and be under the watchful eye of the N performance division.

“We are very much interested in it and as far as I’m concerned I’d love to promote that [a sportscar]. That’s something our brand needs at this time. The people working at N will be working on that, but how we put it in the N or maybe above N … it’s pretty high performance. It’s serious,” said Yang.

“We cannot say it will just be hybrid,” he said “but we will use electric motors and batteries to make it more performance. Some areas we cannot just overcome by putting a big ICE [internal combustion engine], we like to minimise as much as possible the ICE and use the best application of electric motors. That means not only efficiency but also performance can be very much optimised using both powertrains. Certainly we will put some electric powerplant in there.”

Right now, the project is still in the design stage and it will likely be years before the coupe sees the light of day.

Source: Wheels