Once hailed as the model that firmly entrenched Hyundai as a major player in the auto industry, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe is going bye-bye after a company spokesperson confirmed the Korean automaker’s plan to discontinue the model after the 2016 model year. The death of the Genesis Coupe leaves Hyundai without a traditional sports car in its lineup for the first time since 2009. It was a solid run for the Genesis Coupe, marked by a two-generation appearance in Hyundai’s lineup. But as it is, the sports coupe’s time has finally come.
All’s not lost, though. The discontinuation of the Genesis Coupe doesn’t mean that Hyundai is losing its sports coupe altogether, especially now that it has Genesis as a sub-brand. A replacement model is coming after 2017; the only difference is that the new sports coupe, billed as more sophisticated and luxurious than the departing model, will come with a Genesis badge instead of a Hyundai.
The new sports coupe still doesn’t have a name, but it is expected to make use of the same nomenclature that the Genesis brand is currently using. Right now, the Genesis sedan is all set to use the name “Genesis G80” so given the use of the “G-number” system, expect something similar for the new sports coupe.
The transfer of the model from Hyundai to Genesis is all part of the Korean automaker’s plan to establishing a full lineup of models for its new luxury and performance brand. The G80 will be one of the first to hit the market, as is the G90 full-sized sedan. From there, the G70 compact sedan will also arrive together with a pair of crossovers that themselves have yet to be named. After those arrivals will be the sports coupe, which will carry the baton from the soon-to-be axed Hyundai Genesis Coupe as the automaker’s official sports car.
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Why it matters
This really isn’t that much of a big deal because in the grand scheme of things, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe isn’t really going to go away. It’s just going to move from Hyundai to Genesis. And if you think about it, the Genesis Coupe would fit better in the Genesis brand. In effect, Hyundai is actually making a smart move by transitioning the sports coupe to its more luxurious brand because the car’s personality fits much better there.
On top of that, Genesis will likely have more leeway to experiment when it comes to the appropriate size of the engine it can give the car and how much power it can get out of it. It’s worth remembering that Hyundai only offered four- and six-cylinder engines for the Genesis Coupe. There were rumors that a V-8 would find its way under the sports car’s hood, but those whispers never came to pass. But now that the successor – in spirit at least – to the Genesis Coupe will be developed under the Genesis brand, there’s a chance that we could see a V-8 version in the future. The automaker itself admitted that a “new, more sophisticated and luxurious coupe appropriate for the new Genesis brand is currently under development.”
That said, there are still no definite plans on the new Genesis sports car and it would be foolish for me to make baseless assumptions on what Hyundai meant by “more sophisticated.” What I do know is that the Genesis Coupe in its current iteration will be the last we’ll ever see of it now that the replacement model will eventually fall under the new Genesis brand. How if affects both companies moving forward is anyone’s guess at this point, and that kind of mystery is what makes the future of this car so interesting.