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A Genesis Motors executive has confirmed interest in manufacturing the Essentia concept car.
“We are very committed to the Essentia,” explained Erwin Raphael, executive director of Genesis North America in a press briefing for Detroit journalists according to Automobile. “We love the car. We think the car will do very well.”
Raphael added that the Essentia would be an exclusive, limited-production vehicle, though he was noncommittal as to whether it would be the sports coupe previously promised by the Korean luxury automaker, or a separate halo car. Other company executives have stated that the majority of the exotic Essentia’s components such as copper wheels, see-through hood, and carbon fiber body will be doable at its high price point, though the butterfly doors would have to go.
Theoretically, it could enter production as soon as 2021, though a Genesis spokesperson told The Drive that Raphael’s statements should not be misconstrued as a public commitment to manufacturing the Essentia.
“What Erwin said was we’re committed to try to find a way to produce a vehicle like the Essentia Concept,” explained a Genesis spokesperson to The Drive. “A lot different than committed to production!”
Genesis is undergoing growing pains to split its retail network from that of its parent company, Hyundai, which will mean that the Essentia, if built, won’t be sold alongside the Elantra. This change slowed Genesis sales to a relative crawl over the last several months, but an upsurge is expected as Genesis re-attains distributor licenses on a state-by-state basis.
The Genesis Essentia originally debuted at the 2018 New York International Auto Show, where it caught the eye of our chief auto critic Lawrence Ulrich, among others. It completed an international tour of auto shows and similar events in late August at Monterey Car Week. Despite the Essentia’s beauty, legacy automakers stole the show with new models, such as Lamborghini with the new Aventador SVJ. Strange as it may sound, some of us at The Drive think the Genesis Essentia has the Aventador beat for looks, and we can’t wait to see what the finished production car could look like.
