The Genesis GV80 Hybrid is the first hybrid Genesis has built, and it arrives on a car that has been on sale since 2020. The GV80 is Genesis’s midsize luxury SUV, 4,940 mm long on a 2,955 mm wheelbase, sold in five- and six-seat layouts and built alongside the rest of the range at Hyundai’s Ulsan complex in South Korea. Until now its Korean range ran on petrol alone: a 2.5-litre turbo four with 304 PS and two versions of a 3.5-litre turbo V6.
The hybrid slots in above the 2.5 Turbo rather than replacing it. Genesis quotes a combined 352 PS (347 hp) and 54.0 kgf-m of torque, which is 529 Nm or 390 lb-ft, and 0 to 100 km/h in about 7.1 seconds measured in-house. Against the petrol 2.5 Turbo those are gains of roughly 16 percent in power and 26 percent in torque. Combined fuel economy improves by about 25 percent or more, though Genesis attaches that figure to one configuration only, the five-seat car on 19-inch wheels with two-wheel drive.
Two motors do the work. A starter-generator sits on the engine in the P1 position, taking over engine starting and electricity generation, and a drive motor sits in the P2 position between engine and gearbox, providing propulsion and regenerative braking. Behind them is a new seven-speed rear-wheel-drive automatic with a centrifugal pendulum absorber in the damper, a device that cancels the engine’s rotational pulses with counter-phase movement, which is how a four-cylinder is made to feel acceptable in a car this size. Rear- and all-wheel drive are both offered. The battery is liquid-cooled, a first for a Hyundai Motor Group hybrid: liquid cooling holds cell temperature steadier than air cooling, so the pack can be discharged harder and used more of the time. Genesis has not published its capacity.
Visually the hybrid brings a redesigned Crest Grille and new wheels, and the interior adds four two-tone colour combinations, among them Obsidian Black with Taiga Green and Ultramarine Blue with Travertine Beige, plus two new real wood trims. Genesis unveiled the car on 13 August 2026 and says it goes on sale in South Korea the following month. No prices were given at the unveiling, and no other market has been confirmed.
