Base Camp: 2022 Genesis GV60
Every week, wheels.ca selects a new vehicle and takes a good look at its entry-level trim. If we find it worthy of your consideration, we’ll let you know. If not, we’ll recommend one – or the required options – that earns a passing grade.
For anyone not familiar, Genesis is an upstart luxury brand backed by well-known and successful companies in South Korea. Drawing on the engineering might and expertise of that country’s home-market automakers, Genesis has been taking established luxury brands to task by offering vehicles with expressive styling and top-shelf build quality.
After setting table stakes with a range of sedans and SUVs, the company is jumping into the EV market with their GV60. With a popular crossover-like shape and tidy dimensions, this vehicle is – like its mates in the showroom – likely to steal some sales from existing marques. There will be a couple of GV60 trim choices in Canada.
Starting the party is an Advanced trim, making an estimated 314 horsepower and packing a 77.4kWh lithium-ion polymer high-voltage battery. A heat pump for the cabin plus a battery heating system are features which should give the GV60 a fighting chance of retaining precious driving range when Canadian temperatures fall into the nether regions of this nation’s thermometer. Meanwhile, a Performance model uses the same capacity battery but is rated at 429 horsepower.
While the Genesis brand is aimed at luxury buyers, they seem to be incorporating the ethos of their parent company which has a rap for providing a wealth of value in terms of feature count. Standard kit on the Advanced include the likes of quilted Nappa leather seating (heated all around and ventilated up front), a 12.3-inch screen for infotainment plus one more of equal size ahead of the driver for gauges, and a heads-up display. A so-called Vision Roof should permit stargazing while waiting for the car to recharge.
Other gee-whiz tech includes Face Connect and Fingerprint Reader, both of which sound like terrifying tools from Soylent Green but are tools we use every day on our smart devices applied to the operation of the car. Typical safety kit like forward collision avoidance assists and lane keeping are present as well. One should note the retina-searing neon yellow paint colour shown in many promotional materials for the GV60 is limited to the Performance trim, though this tasty Hanauma Mint is available on the Advanced.
What We’d Choose
It is always difficult for the gearheads at Wheels to argue against more power, especially when the GV60 Performance trim comes with an over-boost function capable of bumping output to over 480 horses. Packed into a machine of these proportions, acceleration should be extremely rapid. While the price spread has not yet been announced for this country, the brand’s home market of Korea shows an eight per cent increase when selecting the Performance model.
Beyond the hedonistic indulgences of speed, the Performance variant adds goodies like a surround view monitor and 18-way driver’s seat plus a 17-speaker B&O-branded sound system. Throw in the brand’s Remote Smart Parking and there’s a strong case to be made one should pop for the top-trim when shopping for a Genesis GV60.
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