[Auto]Genesis delays the launch of its first SUV, GV80, by Covid-19

[SougarLord]

In addition to the GV80, which will become the flagship of the South Korean brand, Genesis will also begin marketing the G80 mid-size sedan in the third quarter of the year.

 

Genesis noted that it has received a total of 14,500 purchase reservations for the two new models.

 

"Unfortunately, due to delays related to Covid-19 in the United States, we need to adjust our communication of the highly anticipated arrival in the market to Fall 2020," the company said in a statement.

 

Genesis unveiled the GV80 in January this year at an event in Seoul, shortly before the emergence of the coronavirus caused a pandemic that paralyzed the world's major economies.

 

In February, Hyundai had to halt operations at one of its assembly plants in the South Korean city of Ulsan, where the Hyundai Palisade and Genesis GV80 are produced, after one of its workers contracted the disease.

 

The GV80 is Genesis' first SUV SUV, a brand that Hyundai created in 2015 to produce vehicles for the luxury market. The model is based on a Genesis specific rear wheel drive architecture.

The manufacturer has indicated that the V in the vehicle name means "versatility". Until now, the luxury brand had only produced G70, G80 and G90 sedans.

The interior design of the GV80 is the result of the collaboration of the studies that the brand has in South Korea, the United States and Germany so that it can satisfy the demands of Asian, North American and European consumers.

                                                                                         

The vehicle has a technology called Road Active Noise Cancellation (RANC) that Genesis ensures "drastically reduces" the noise caused by the friction of the wheels with the road, generating "sound waves of opposite phases in 0.002 seconds" when analyzing in real time road noise.

 

Another innovation of the GV80 is a system installed in the driver's seat equipped with seven air cells that "reduces fatigue caused by long hours" at the front of the steering wheel.

 

The vehicle will be available with four-wheel or rear-wheel drive and with two turbocharged engines, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a 3.5-liter V6.