Ever since Hyundai‘s luxury arm, Genesis, announced that it was going after the likes of AMG with a new performance arm called Magma, the company has been backing up that ambition with several concepts that have been truly stunning, and its latest, the G90 Wingback wagon, is perhaps its most exciting. Sure, the Magma Racing hypercar and the Magma GT Concept may be more racy, but they’re the sort of unobtanium that most of us can’t realistically hope to ever get behind the wheel of. The Wingback concept, on the other hand, looks like a feasible car and could be justified to the significant other as a practical purchase that could be lived with every day if it ever makes production. Dream on, and don’t stop believing, because new comments from Genesis Chief Creative Officer Luc Donckerwolke fan the flames of hope that the luxurious longroof will find its way into the real world.
Everyone Says It’s Not Worth Doing, But BMW And Audi Suggest Otherwise
Cole Attisha
“I get feedback that high-power wagons are not that cool outside of Germany, but if you look at the success of competitors on the U.S. market [like the Audi RS6 Avant and BMW M5 Touring], that tells me the opposite,” Donckerwolke told MotorTrend. Those German wagons are a size class below the G90, but the idea still holds. Yes, most of the market has gravitated away from wagons and towards crossovers, but in the high-performance luxury space? A wagon stands out, and if offered in low volumes, a Magma G90 wagon could be even more enticing. He went on to say that Genesis’ recent concepts “are very executable very fast with a minimum level of advance investment.”
Similarly, Manfred Harrer, head of the Genesis and Performance Tech Unit of the Hyundai Motor Group’s R&D department, says that the G90 platform is not only being modified to underpin a Magma variant of the sedan, but also to potentially bring the Wingback and X Gran Coupe concepts to production: “We are preparing this platform for high performance.” More good news comes from his follow-up comment: “And we are really committed to these designs.” In other words, these theoretical vehicles are not mere flights of fancy, and should they make production, which is looking likely, the cars will adhere to the striking designs we’ve been wowed with in concept form, with little toning down.
The G90 Wingback Wagon Might Get A Brand New V8
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As speculated by MotorTrend, it makes sense for the possible production version Wingback (and X Gran Coupe and Convertible) to carry over the 3.5-liter twin-turbo/electrically supercharged V6 in the current range-topping version of the G90 sedan, where it delivers 409 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque. In Magma guise, it would need a lot more grunt to compete with or outperform the 600-hp RS6 or 717-hp M5. Interestingly, the publication reports that a Genesis source has hinted that there may be a new V8 under development for the Wingback and X Gran Coupe, which would make them more appealing to potential buyers (just ask Mercedes how small engines fared in AMG products), especially since Donckerwolke added that the two cars “are tailored coachwork cars, and this brings them into the One-of-One program.” In a nutshell, Genesis is very interested in making these concepts real, whether as production cars that you might find on a dealer floor or as production limited editions that you have to be very wealthy to have a shot at owning. Either way, Genesis, you had our curiosity, but now you have our attention.
