With sales floundering thanks to a model range exclusively wearing six-figure price tags, the electric Genesis GV60 is back in Australia after a 12-month break, sporting a mid-life facelift for MY27 and a new starting price of $88,300 (before on-road costs), placing it below the applicable LCT and FBT-exemption thresholds.
In lowering the GV60’s previous base price (of $103,384) by 15 grand, the electric medium crossover has had to forego a degree of specification – predominantly the switch from a 239kW dual-motor AWD to a 168kW single-motor rear driver.
However, a larger, fourth-generation 84kWh battery (with 800-volt architecture) means it now offers 561km of WLTP range, and an unchanged 10-80 percent charging time of 18 minutes.
This new entry-level RWD version in the GV60 lineup – which also includes the soon-to-launch high-performance 448kW dual-motor Magma edition – is called the Advanced.
Changes for MY27 include completely restyled front and rear bumpers, a new 3D grille, ‘micro-lens array’ LED strip headlights, colour-coding for the new sills and wheelarch mouldings, and new 19-inch alloys wearing 235/55R19 Michelin Primacy 4 tyres.
There are no sheetmetal changes, though the drag coefficient is slightly lower at 0.28.
The GV60’s colour pallete has been refreshed – nine hues including new Tromso Green metallic, plus white, silver, grey, black and blue gloss colours, and three optional matte hues for $4000 extra (Matterhorn White, Makulu Grey, Ceres Blue).
What is the GV60 Advanced’s interior and tech like?
The standard interior colour is Obsidian Black, however a much lighter and brighter Glacier White/Ash Grey two-tone treatment is a no-cost option with every exterior colour. As long as you can handle the regular upkeep of light-coloured upholstery, it transforms the interior.
Speaking of which, while the $88K GV60 Advanced isn’t an affordable EV, that premium price does buy you premium quality. Everywhere you look, and everything you touch, is tactile and expensive.
And it even smells that way. China may have bombarded the Australian market with EVs of all types in recent years, but very few of them smell like upmarket products.
The rear-drive GV60 Advanced loses the suede headliner from before but it retains leather-faced seating with perforated centres and three-setting heating/cooling in the front. There’s also lovely stitched leather adorning the dashboard, doors and centre console.
Both electric front buckets provide excellent comfort and have tonnes of adjustment (12-way driver, eight-way passenger), and while the GV60’s wheelbase is 100mm shorter than its Hyundai Ioniq 5 cousin’s (at 2900mm), there’s doable rear-seat room for adults and loads of space for kids.
The MY27 GV60 also gets a new dash layout – centred around a huge 27-inch screen that blends the driver’s display with the infotainment touchscreen – though thankfully the cabin retains loads of buttons, which work superbly.
And while you could criticise the GV60 for not moving its novel ‘crystal sphere’ transmission ball thingy to a column change to free up centre storage space, it’s so refreshing to have the gear shifter/direction selector remain in a conventional location.
What is the GV60 Advanced like to drive?
Where the GV60’s updates for MY27 really start to make a difference is what’s underneath.
From the Smart Regenerative Braking System 3.0, which is much smoother than older i-Pedal set-ups, to the improved braking package (345mm ventilated front discs with four-piston monobloc calipers and 325mm rear discs) and the extensive improvements to sound isolation (windscreen, rear seat, boot, rear hydro bushings), it feels like a much classier car.
Along with structural improvements, the steering has been enhanced to reduce friction and the steering gear has been optimised to improve response. Combined with a complete suspension retune and the aforementioned NVH improvements, the outcome is a really quiet, delightfully comfortable EV…and that’s a rare statement.
Steering is light but also crisply consistent and pleasantly keen, handing balance is neutral to rear-biased, and ride comfort is excellent.
So in all the areas where the GV60 needed to assert its premium focus and luxurious status, it succeeds massively – to the point where only Audi’s Q4 E-tron could match its dynamic appeal, while fumbling interior quality.
In tuning the GV60 to prioritise comfort, it does concede dynamic prowess in some areas.
When you press the ESC button in the closely related Kia EV6 GT-Line, this disables traction control and allows the rear-drive EV6 to breathe with the road – demonstrating its superb handling and chassis balance.
But doing the same in the GV60 exposes the ultimate softness of its suspension tune and a degree of roll-oversteer at its (lower) handling limits.
In aiming for the target market, perhaps Genesis has nailed the GV60’s comfort focus. But we would love a bit more discipline as the handling limit approaches, and more finesse in its transition into mild oversteer.
That said, an EV that actually rides well is a revelation, so maybe we’re asking too much here…
Given that its powertrain is hardly a powerhouse does highlight the low-ish limit of its handling. The new 84kWh battery can handle up to 263kW of DC charge and the electric motor’s peak outputs are 168kW/350Nm – good for 0-100km/h in a claimed 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 185km/h.
So while acceleration is smoothly ample, it isn’t urgent enough to upset the suspension tune.
But given the likely buyer of the GV60 Advanced – someone who values build quality, smoothness and sophisticated technology over twisty-road enjoyment – perhaps this is exactly the right update at the right time.
And we’re not saying it handles badly, just that it has the potential to provide a suaver combination of ride and handling (much like the way some good French cars used to).
As an ownership prospect, the fact that Genesis provides five years of free servicing, as well as vehicle collection and a loan car to your premises, could be a big factor in swaying those shopping around for premium-brand options away from the German triumvirate.
The GV60 Advanced certainly has the upper hand when it comes to charging speed, at least for now. Our challenging launch drive saw energy efficiency of 21.0kWh/100km, which translates to 381km of essentially worst-case real-world range. The official combined consumption figure is 16.7kWh/100km.
The honest verdict on the GV60 Advanced
So can the re-priced, re-tuned, re-specced and restyled MY27 Genesis GV60 make an impact in a premium EV class that includes such mediocre offerings as the Mercedes-Benz EQA, BMW iX1/iX2 and, to a lesser extent, the Audi Q4 e-tron?
If badge snobbery can be put aside, it feels like it has the premium ingredients to appease the picky Sydney and Melbourne folk most likely to follow brand tradition rather than best practice.
Sitting beneath the LCT and FBT-exemption thresholds, the $88K GV60 has been gifted its best opportunity to succeed since it went on sale here four years ago.
And it will also have the halo effect of a high-performance GV60 Magma sibling to attract some interest to what has so far been a well regarded if generally ignored nameplate.
