Hyundai’s first full-size electric Genesis GV90 to roll out in late 2025

The Genesis, Hyundai Motor Co.'s standalone premium brand, will launch its first full-size electric sport utility vehicle, the GV90, late next year to gain further ground in the large luxury EV market.

The luxury brand unit of South Korea’s top automaker will begin building the GV90 on Hyundai’s new EV manufacturing platform in December 2025, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Hyundai recently sent a request for quotation (RFQ) to its major partners detailing its plans for new EVs, including the GV90, to be built on a new Hyundai EV platform called eM, sources said.

Annual production volumes stated in the RFQ are 210,000 units for the GV90, 68,000 for the GV80, 40,000 for the GV70 and 51,000 for the GV80, they said.

Hyundai plans to build 1,132,000 units across four different Genesis models based on the eM platform from December 2025 through 2033, sources said.

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Hyundai Motor, its sister firm Kia Corp. and Genesis, aims to become a top-three EV maker by 2030 with sales of 2 million EVs globally by then.

NEOLUN CONCEPT MORPHED INTO GV90

The large flagship GV90 is based on the Neolun Concept unveiled at the New York International Auto Show in March.

The Neolun has coach doors without B-pillars connecting the vehicle’s body and roof. The layout provides a more open interior space than conventional vehicles while maximizing convenient passenger access.

The SUV has electric side steps, automatically deployed when the doors open, making it easier for passengers to step in and out of the vehicle. When the doors close, the side steps reintegrate into the car.

In 2022, Hyundai said it would use the Korean floor heating system, ondol, for the full-size premium SUV. The radiant heating system allows for efficient heating throughout the vehicle, with heating films applied to the dashboard, door trims, floor, seat backs and side consoles.

The Neolun Concept’s swiveling function for the front-row seats increases passenger space and convenience, it said.

Industry officials said the GV90 will prove Hyundai’s advanced EV technology, as no automaker has released a full-size SUV that relies 100% on electricity as a power source. The Tesla X is a semi-large SUV.

HYUNDAI’S NEXT-GENERATION EV PLATFORM

The GV90 will be Hyundai's first vehicle to sit on its next-generation eM platform.

Hyundai and Kia’s current EVs are built on the Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), which will be replaced by a second-generation battery EV (BEV) platform called Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA).

The automotive group earlier said the IMA will be divided into two vehicle platforms: The eM will be used for electric cars “in all segments” and the eS for special vehicles such as purpose-built vehicles (PBVs).

Hyundai said its new platforms will standardize not only the chassis but also the drives and the battery system with cell-to-pack technology. This should significantly increase economies of scale and reduce complexity, thus lowering development costs.

The Hyundai Motor Group said it has developed 86 modular systems to enhance the scalability of its new platforms to make various models on a single platform.

Hyundai believes its new platforms can result in 20% cost cuts for next-generation EVs compared with current models built on the E-GMP.

The new platforms will also be available with different battery options such as the tertiary nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery and the cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, depending on EV models.

Genesis now offers three purely electric models: the GV60, the Electrified GV70 and the Electrified G80 sedan. Starting in 2025, all new Genesis models will be launched on the market only with a battery-electric drive.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.