2021 Genesis G70 vs 2020

What's the difference?

After an early identity crisis where the name was used under the Hyundai banner, Genesis, the Hyundai Group’s luxury brand, launched globally as a stand-alone entity in 2016, and formally arrived in Australia in 2019.

Keen to disrupt the premium market, it offers provocatively priced sedan and SUV models, bristling with tech and loaded with standard equipment. And already, its entry-level model, the G70 sedan, has been updated.

Just as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda (and nearly Mazda) did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Hyundai created a luxury nameplate in the late noughties, knowing its mainstream brand wasn’t elastic enough to stretch up to the top shelf luxury level, occupied by well established players.

Initially paired with the Hyundai badge, Genesis launched globally as a stand-alone sub-brand in 2016, and the G70 compact sedan we’re looking at here, launched locally in mid-2019.

It sits next to the limo-length G80 in the current Australian line-up. A full-size GV80 SUV is coming soon, followed by the mega-primo G90 sedan, with a series of GT models likely to follow that.

So, how does the entry-point to South Korea’s first genuine tilt at the luxury market measure up?  Read on to find out.