Genesis Unveils GV60 Magma, Marking a New Era in Luxury Performance (Image courtesy of Genesis)
LE CASTELLET, France, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Genesis, Hyundai Motor Group’s luxury brand, marked its 10th anniversary with the world premiere of its first high-performance production model, the GV60 Magma, unveiling the vehicle at the Paul Ricard Circuit on Thursday as it charts a bold new course in the premium sports-car segment.
“With Genesis becoming one of the fastest-growing luxury brands, Magma will fuel our next stage of performance-focused growth,” José Muñoz, Hyundai Motor’s president, said at the event. “Magma represents Genesis at its most extreme.”
The GV60 Magma is the first mass-production model in the brand’s newly announced high-performance program, which Genesis hopes will establish a distinct niche of “luxury performance” blending emotional appeal with technical capability. The company aims to have Magma models account for roughly 5 percent of its 2030 sales target of 350,000 vehicles.
A decade of rapid ascent
Launched in 2015, Genesis entered a global luxury market long dominated by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Lexus — an unprecedented challenge for a Korean automaker. The brand debuted with the G90 (then known domestically as the EQ900), backed by an aggressive strategy led directly by Chung Euisun, now chairman of Hyundai Motor Group.
Genesis quickly expanded its lineup, exporting the G90 in 2016 and adding the G80 and G70 sedans, as well as the GV80 concept. Its visibility grew through sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational beginning in 2017 and the opening of its flagship Genesis Gangnam showroom in 2018.
By 2020, the brand had completed its transition into SUVs with the GV80 and GV70 and achieved annual global sales of 100,000 for the first time. Electrified models, including the G80 EV and GV60, arrived in 2021, coinciding with Genesis’ push into Europe and China and the milestone of 500,000 cumulative global sales.
In August 2023, Genesis surpassed 1 million cumulative global sales — the fastest ascent of any modern luxury marque. Its share of Hyundai Motor’s global volume exceeded 5 percent, a benchmark that Lexus reached only after three decades.
Genesis Unveils GV60 Magma, Marking a New Era in Luxury Performance (Image courtesy of Genesis)
Racing ambitions and the rise of Magma
In March 2024, Genesis identified motorsports and racing-derived technology as key to its next decade of growth, announcing the Magma high-performance program. The brand further cemented its intentions with the launch of Genesis Magma Racing (GMR) in December.
Luke Donckerwolke, Hyundai Motor Group’s chief creative officer, said the Magma brand is not pursuing raw output or speed alone. Instead, he described its ethos as “confident, composed performance, grounded in precision and control.”
Genesis positions Magma not as a departure from luxury but as its natural evolution: a fusion of driving emotion, engineering refinement and the ambition to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s leading performance marques.
With the GV60 Magma now revealed to a global audience, Genesis is signaling that its second decade will center not only on craftsmanship and design — but on speed, precision and a new competitive horizon.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
