Genesis aims to go all-electric by 2030, triple global sales

Editor's note: The brand plans a fully electric lineup by 2030. An earlier version of this story misstated that timeline.

South Korean premium player Genesis says it will go electric-only by 2030 as it phases out internal combustion and shifts exclusively to battery-electrics and fuel cells on its way to tripling worldwide sales to 400,000 vehicles a year.

The new product strategy, announced Thursday in a statement and YouTube video tease, accelerates Genesis’ fledgling drive into electrified powertrains.

Hyundai Motor Group’s top-shelf brand said that all new vehicles will be electric from 2025 under a dual-pronged approach that focuses on full-electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells.

The company will drop internal combustion technology from new models beginning that year, meaning Genesis will also bypass hybrids and plug-in hybrids, spokesman Jee Hyun Kim said.

By 2030, the global lineup will consist of eight EV and fuel cell models, he said. Around that time, Genesis plans to achieve worldwide sales of 400,000 vehicles a year. As recently as late 2019, Genesis was expecting annual sales to crest at 100,000 for the first time.

In 2020, Genesis notched record sales of 128,365 worldwide.

Genesis joins a growing list of global automakers that are making their product profiles heavily, if not entirely, EV-oriented – including Honda, Jaguar, General Motors, Ford, Mini and Volvo.

Genesis said in April that its first EV would be the Electrified G80 sedan. Since then, it has announced the GV60 electric compact crossover. Both models are due in the first half of 2022.

Jay Chang, global head of Genesis, said the coming wave of new vehicles will leverage a high-power fuel cell system and next-generation battery technology.

The shift to all-EV is part of a Genesis drive to go carbon neutral by 2035.            

“To become carbon neutral, Genesis will establish itself as a 100 percent zero-emission vehicle brand by 2030,” Genesis said in its news release. “Genesis aims to build an EV lineup consisting of eight models and expects global sales to reach 400,000 units per year.”

In the YouTube video previewing Genesis’ vision for a “sustainable future,” the brand offered peeks of concepts that could foreshadow upcoming models. One called Stage Doors has front and rear doors that open in opposite directions without a B-pillar to reveal rotating swivel seats.

It also gets a unique heating system modeled after traditional Korean ondol floor heating.

Another model looked like a sporty coupe with muscular rear fenders.

“Genesis has been on an intensive, bold and successful journey, successfully establishing itself as a truly global luxury brand,” Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung said in the statement. “Genesis is once again at the starting point of another audacious journey – the journey towards a sustainable future.”