Genesis GV60 Review 2025

There was a risk that the Genesis GV60 might have been little more than a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or a Kia EV6 in fancier clothes, yet while it shares many technical similarities, it also manages to be distinct from its Korean counterparts. Striking an appealing balance between comfort and performance, adding a spacious, upmarket cabin into the mix, its high price and lack of brand image are stumbling blocks. Find out if they are insurmountable in our full Genesis GV60 review.

Hyundai Motor Group's upmarket brand, Genesis, arrived in the UK in 2021 with bold ambitions to change the way we buy cars.

It doesn't have conventional dealerships, instead opting for a handful of studios dotted around the country, where personal assistants are available to answer your questions and arrange for a demonstrator to be delivered to your house. It's difficult to argue that's a positive strategy for generating wider brand awareness, despite the focused customer service benefit.

Initial offerings from the brand were conventional, available solely with traditional combustion engines — fully electric versions arrived a year later, coinciding with the launch of the Genesis GV60. It's a battery-powered SUV that shares its underpinnings with the aforementioned Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, two of the best EVs on sale.

In line with Genesis's upmarket aspirations, the GV60 isn't inexpensive, with the least costly version just north of £54,000. Yet even in this guise it feels pretigiously plush in a way that one of its key rivals, the Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback, simply doesn't. 

Other relatively compact, electric SUVs which have a similarly coupe-like roofline to the GV60 include the rakish Lexus RZ and the chunky Volvo EC40. 

Smoothly styled in such a way as to make its 4545mm length appear smaller than it truly is, the Genesis GV60's bodywork features a number of elements which help ensure it isn't going to be easily confused with other cars on the occasions you spot one.

Bisected, LED-dense head and tail lights add visual interest without looking overly gauche, the split tailgate glass with integral spoiler keeps the rear screen clear without a wiper sullying its pert tail and the lightning flash of chrome-look trim forming the upper edge of the side windows is a nod to its electric drive systems.

It's noteworthy that very little about how the GV60 looks outside or in was modified when it was facelifted in 2025. 

Climb aboard and the Genesis feels special, with high-grade fixtures and fittings wherever you look and touch. Not only does it smack of being genuinely upmarket, it feels several notches plusher than both the Ioniq 5 and the EV6, neither of which are known to feel downmarket. For four people it's very spacious, although a fifth passenger does make the rear bench a rather snug affair. 

Cabin theatrics are provided by the GV60's drive selector mounted on the elevated centre console. When the car's switched on, it's a silver-painted rotary dial, with indentations for fingertips to engage while it's being twisted. Power the Genesis down and it spins on its horizontal axis to reveal its Crystal Sphere, backlit to match the chosen ambient lighting colour.

Optional technology incudes Digital Side Mirrors, which aren't mirrors at all but rear-pointing cameras with display screens mounted on the inside of the front doors, facial recognition to unlock and start the car and a Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) adapter which plugs into the external charge port to power all manner of electrical equipment — potentially handy for camping and summer socialising in your garden.

Also part of the Genesis GV60's 2025 makeover was a realignment of the model range. The previous rear-wheel drive, single motor Premium gave way to the Pure as the line-up's entry point, while among the all-wheel drive, dual motor variants Sport continued but Sport Plus was replaced by Performance. 

Despite the current flagship's 490PS and 4.0-second 0-62mph time credentials, there's more speed to come in 2026 with the advent of the Genesis GV60 Magma — it's arrival coincides with the brand's entry into the World Endurance Championship, a series which encompases the Le Mans 24-hour race. In other words, it's not a half-hearted marketing ploy.

There's much to enjoy and admire about the Genesis GV60 and while its lack of brand image doesn't stop the car itself from feeling like the real deal, it does seem to go hand-in-hand with the unsual way in which the models are sold to those customers who have taken the plunge.

Genesis GV60: Range and charging times

How far your Genesis GV60 goes on a charge will depend which version you buy and how old it is — not to mention how you drive it, of course.

Pre-2025 faelift models have a 77.4kWh battery, which gave the rear-wheel drive, single motor, entry-level Premium version an official WLTP driving range of 321 miles. In the more powerful all-wheel-drive, dual motor Sport and Sport Plus models those maximums dropped to 292 miles and 289 miles respectively.

A larger 84kWh pack was fitted across the board from the 2025 makeover with increases in the range potential. The longest-legged Pure's official figure jumped to 348 miles, the Sport rose to 318 miles and Performance slightly behind at 311 miles.

All ages of GV60 can manage ultra-rapid DC charging at up to 240kW when hooked-up to an appropriately powerful public charge point, enabling a 10-80% top up in 18 minutes. Suddenly, the idea of using an electric car for a long journey seems a lot more palatable. It's expensive, though, so something we only recommend doing as the exception rather than the rule.

Using a 7.4kW AC domestic wallbox to recharge is much more cost-effective, especially of you switch to an EV-friendly tarrif with rates as low as 7p/kWh. A flat-to-full recharge will typically take 12 hours for the GV60 with the 77.4kWh battery and 14 hours for those with the newer 84kWh pack.

As electric SUVs go, the Genesis GV60 is one of the sportier choices in terms of handling. Sure, it never entirely hides its mass, but the steering is eager and it remains pleasingly flat when cornering at higher speeds, thanks to the low centre of gravity provided by positioning the batteries under the floor.

We really like the way the entry-level GV60 goes about its business. As its sole electric motor powers the rear wheels, the fronts are left to primarily direction changes. As a result, it feels nimble both in and out of town, while there's loads of grip on hand so you don't need to worry about the rear tyres spinning-up under hard acceleration, or it trying to thrust you into the scenery.

More powerful models are all-wheel drive but this doesn't ruin the fun. The most powerful GV60s also have a Drift Mode setting, allowing you to accurately control sideways slides should you ever venture on to a race circuit in your electric family SUV.

There's also a noticeable difference between the GV60's driving modes, making them more worthwhile having. In Sport a hefty chunk of weight is added to the steering, as well as sharpening-up the accelerator's response.

You can also adjust the strength of the Genesis's regenerative braking using paddles behind the steering wheel, a feature we wish more electric cars had. With energy recuperation maximised the GV60 will slow significantly as soon as you lift off the accelerator, until it reaches its 'creep' walking-pace speed.

This allows you to negotiate city streets and barely touch the brake pedal at all. It takes a bit of practice but is a masterclass in planning ahead. A similar result is achieved with greater ease by using the adaptive cruise control system, which works very effectively in town or motorway.

With its 19-inch alloy wheels, the cheapest GV60s also have the chunkiest tyre sidewalls, to the benefit of ride quality. Generally, the Genesis does a good job of smoothing-out broken road surfaces, albeit with a slightly firm edge. Electronically controlled adaptive suspension is optional on Sport models and standard on the most powerful GV60s.

Regardless of whether you choose a pre- or post-2025 facelift version of the Genesis GV60, three levels of power are available, with unchanged statistics aside from the growth in battery capacity. 

Connecting the motor to the driven wheels is a single-speed transmission, which to all intents and purposes is operated in the same manner as a conventional automatic.

As is highlighted by its name, the RWD Single Motor has a solitary electric drive unit mounted under the boot floor. It produces 229PS and 350Nm, which are almost the level of a hot hatchback from not many years ago, here with the istantaneous surge typical of an electric motor.

It makes the GV60 feel usefully lively, if not super-quick, but in the real-world its performance is ample for most people's needs. The familiar 0-62mph sprint takes 7.8 seconds, running on to an electronically governed top speed of 115mph.

Next up is the first of the two AWD Dual Motor versions, in this case for the GV60 Sport. With a second motor nestled under the bonnet, combined outputs are elevated to 318PS and 605Nm, reducing the standstill to 62mph time to 5.5 seconds, while the pegged top speed is upped to 124mph.

Fastest of the Genesis GV60s — at least until the Magma arrives in 2026 — is the other AWD Dual Motor, as fitted to the pre-facelift Sport Plus and post-makeover Performance versions. It is rapid, even by electric car standards, augmented by a steering wheel-mounted Boost button which enables a 10-second burst of its 490PS maximum power.

Combined with peak torque of 700Nm, the GV60 proves remarkably adept at nipping into gaps on busy roundabouts as well as safely completing quick overtaking manoeuvres. A top speed of 146mph is rather unnecessary, but its 4.0-second 0-62mph time was the preserve of cars gracing posters in Athena until a few years ago.

Multiple Genesis GV60s have been smashed to smithereens in the name of science by the crash-test experts at Euro NCAP. Happily they awarded it their full five-star rating in 2022.

Individual category scores were 89% for adult occupant protection, 87% for children, 63% when it came to vulnerable road users and 88% in terms of its driver safety assist systems.

In the case of a collision, the GV60 has no fewer than eight airbags ready to deploy within a fraction of a second, including a central airbag that prevents the driver and front-seat passenger clashing.

Hopefully it won't come to that, though, as there's all the usual technology on hand to prevent a crash in the first place. This includes an autonomous emergency braking system, which can apply the anchors if it detects danger, an evasive steering assist feature that will help you swerve around a potential collision and a driver attention monitor.

All versions of the Genesis GV60 have the same maximum braked towing weight of 1600kg. That's enough for a typical medium-sized caravan.

The beauty of cars such as the Genesis GV60, which are built on dedicated electric vehicle underpinnings, is that they usually enable the interior space to be maximised as electric motors and batteries are far more compact than bulky combustion engines and gearboxes.

As a result, the GV60 feels generously proportioned inside, without as high a driving position as is typically found in SUVs. Up front there's plenty of room for heads and limbs, the cabin's airiness amplified by the raised centre console which stands inependently of the dashboard, although isn't possible to slide right across from one front seat to the other.

Obtaining a comfortable driving position is easy enough, with lots of adjustment potential in the seat and steering wheel position, plus good all-round visibility despite the chunkiness of the roof pillars. Rearward visibility is better with conventional door mirrors than the optional Digital Side Mirrors.

They're really rear-facing cameras which have small OLED display screens on the inside of the front doors close to where you would otherwise look at the mirror. They don't enable depth perception the way a mirror does and the images are compromised at night.

Space in the back is very generous, where two six-feet tall adults can comfortably sit behind those in front of a similar height. The sloping nature of the GV60's roofline means those same passengers will feel the headlining close to their scalps, although reclining the seatbacks alleviates that, plus there's barely any space to slide your feet under the front seats if they're positioned at their lowest levels.

A third passenger can be slotted into the middle of the rear bench, but it's a less comfy position, being narrower between the seatbelt buckles and with virtually no cushion scalloping compared with the outer seats. Usefully, the floor in the back is flat, which helps with footroom, although the rear end of the centre console negates any advantage there.

In-cabin storage for odds and ends is generous, not least with that standalone centre console. The front section contains two cupholders, a lidded cubby below the centreal armrest, a wireless smartphone charging pad and an open tunnel beneath with netted fences that can be accessed front and rear. It's a shame it can't be slid back and forth, though.

One novel touch is the glovebox opens drawer-style, while beneath the centre of the main horizontal dash is a smaller locker than opens with a more conventional drop-down door. A pair of USB ports are neatly hidden within the latter space.

Some words of caution to those attracted to the expensive-looking cream-coloured interior finish, which includes the lower half of the dashboard and the sidewalls of the boot — even with the greatest care it can, and will, show grubby marks very easily, so be prepared to clean the interior more fastidiously than you will have any car you've owned before.

While passenger space has clearly been a priority in the Genesis GV60, its boot is on the modest side of useful at 432 litres of luggage. Access to it is high, although a standard-fit false floor reduces the internal lip that you would otherwise need to lift things over, as well as giving you somewhere to hide things away.

That's down on the 520 litres available in the Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback and significantly shy of the 586 litres in the Lexus RZ's rump, although the Genesis is more capacious than the Volvo EC40's 404-litre space.

When the GV60's 60/40-split rear seatbacks are folded forwards, the join with the boot floor is relatively flush, although they sit at a different angle, which isn't ideal. In this configuration the Genesis can swallow 1550 litres. By comparison the Audi's now behind at 1490 litres, as is the Lexus at 1515 litres, with the Volvo remaining the tightest at 1310 litres.

There's a small frunk located under the bonnet providing a convenient place to store charging cables and potentially more. Its capacity is 53 litres on rear-wheel drive models and 20 litres when all-wheel drive is specified.

From its spangly, rotating Crystal Sphere drive selector to the faux leather-covered dashboard, the Genesis GV60 feels sufficiently special inside to help warrant its steep pricing. It also feels notably different from its Hyundai and Kia relations — you have to search for a while before you encounter any buttons or switches which are completely identical. 

Similarly, your hands will need to spend time down at foot level — or in the boot — before they come into contact with any plastic mouldings that don't feel impressively thick and substantial. Overall, the fixtures and fittings wouldn't feel out of place in a car costing twice as much.

Build quality is also deeply impressive with lustrous paint free of any orange peel surface rippes, tight and even gaps between panels, a reassuring sound of solidity when the doors are closed and a rattle-free interior.

It's welcome that the Genesis GV60's interior demonstrates the brand's intention to follow others in aping Tesla's ultra-minimalism. If anything, with the amount of buttons and switches in here it's positively anti-minimalistic. And yes, that includes physical adjusters for the climate control settings, albeit augmented by its own dedicated screen.

Original GV60s featureed a pair of 12.3-inch displays, with the one located closer to the centre of the dashboard being a touchscreen for the multimedia system and myriad other functions. From the 2025 facelift, it was replaced by a 27.0-inch ultra-widescreen with a continuous display, although the section between the driver's display and the touch-sensitive area remains largely redundant — it just looks slicker.

Overall, the infotainment system is easy to operate and doesn't require the touchscreen to be used for everything, which is just as well given the left-most edge is tricky to reach from the driver's seat for those of us without arms like Mr Tickle's.

As well as the GV60's voice control, the infotainment settings can also be operated via a rotary control wheel on the centre console. It's a considerate way of introducing customers to a wide array of on-board technology as it provides a choice about how to operate it rather than confining them to solely using the touchscreen.

Its menus are logical although the complexity of some of the settings within requires you to spend time learning about what each does — that's no bad thing.

Navigation is integrated and although the map rendering is nothing to write home about, that native system can pre-condition the battery with the heat pump to get it at the optimal temperature for charging when recognised station is set as the destination.

For the most part, it's convenient for most people simply to take advantage of the wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity. 

Audio quality from the standard speakers is more than acceptable, although optional Bang & Olufsen surround sound upgrade with Active Road Noise Cancelling is worthwile for music lovers. 

Given everything else you now know about the Genesis GV60, it shouldn't be a surprise to read that this is not an inexpensive car, although it's not out of step with its core rivals.

Least expensive of the facelifted range is the GV60 RWD Single Motor Pure at £54,115 — usefully for the entry-level model, it's also the line-up's sweet spot, so you really don't need to plump for a pricer version to enjoy what the Genesis offers.

That said, for those who desire the addtional traction of all-wheel drive and even greater pace, the AWD Dual Motor Sport is the next rung up the ladder at £58,515. If that's not quick enough, prepare to dig deep as there's a substantial step up to the AWD Dual Motor Performance at £67,715.

What about the GV60's rivals? Audi's cheapest Q4 e-tron Sportback undercuts it to the tune of £6k starting at £48,110 rising to £63,990. On the other hand, the Lexus RZ is much closer, ranging from £52,445 to £66,845, while Volvo's EC40 spans a price bracket of £52,410 to £63,160.

It's also worth noting that the GV60's Hyundai and Kia relations aren't significantly less expensive, either. Prices for the Ioniq 5 range from £39,930 to £65,035, with the EV6 going from £45,485 to £59,985.

Much more tempting prices can be found on the used car market. Around £27,000 will bag you a two- or three-year-old entry-level GV60 with around 20,000 miles on the clock, while £36,000 buys you one less than a year old with under 10,000 miles to its credit.

Like all EVs, the Genesis GV60 can be extremely cheap to run, providing you charge primarily at home, ideally using a dedicated EV tarrif. Doing so could net you 300 miles of real-world driving range for less than £8.

As of April 2025, electric cars are now subjected to VED Car Tax at the same price as combustion-engined cars from the first anniversary of when it was registered onwards. That's also the point at which the Expensive Car Supplement kicks in for EVs costing £50,000 or more new, which the GV60 does. From then to the sixth anniversary of its first registration, that's an extra £425 per year at current rates.

For company car drivers, electric cars have become almost the default choice thanks to their enticingly low 3% taxation band for Benefit-in-Kind (BiK).  

Servicing's included for five years through the Genesis Care Plan, while they'll even pick the car up from your home or workplace and drop off a courtesy car.

There's no need to be concerned about reliability, either. While Genesis is a relatively unknown brand in the UK, don't forget that the GV60's mechanicals are largely identical to those used in Hyundais and Kias. We haven't heard of many issues with either of these, while electric cars are generally very dependable.

Introduced at the 2025 facelift, the Genesis GV60 is available in three distinct versions — Pure, Sport and Performance.

They replaced the original line-up of Premium, Sport and Sport Plus, adding extra features to their already generous levels of standard equipment.

Features included in the price of the Genesis GV60 Pure include:

• 19-inch alloy wheels
• Automatic Micro-lens Array (MLA) LED headlights
• LED daytime-running lights
• LED tail lights
• Automatic windscreen wipers
• Automatically operated, flush-fitting exterior door handles
• Electrically operated tailgate
• Electrically adjustable, folding and heated door mirrors with auto-dimming functon on driver's side and LED downlighting incorporating the Genesis logo
• Acoustically insulated windscreen and front door windows
• Dark-tinted rear privacy windows
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Electrically adjustable, heated front seats
• Rear centre armrest
• Leatherette seat upholstery
• Heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel with regenerative braking paddles
• Leatherette door panel upholstery
• Aluminium interior trims
• 27.0-inch panoramic OLED infotainment touchscreen and driver's cluster display
• DAB digital radio
• Integrated navigation system
• Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity
• Wireless smartphone charging pad
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dual-zone climate control with air purifier
• Auto-dimming interior rear-view mirror
• 64-colour LED interior ambient lighting
• Drive Mode Select
• Heat pump

Primary differences for the Genesis GV60 Sport relate to its drive system, with the only equipment change being:

• 20-inch alloy wheels

More equipment is found on the Genesis GV60 Performance including:

• 21-inch alloy wheels
• White-painted brake calipers
• Preview Electronic Control Suspension (ECS)
• Acoustically insulated windscreen plus front and rear door windows
• Intelligent Front-lighting System — automatic adaptive main beam headlights
• Front, side and rear parking sensors
• Surround View Monitor (SVM) 360-degree parking camera system
• Electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated Ergo-Motion Premium Relaxation driver's seat, including cushion extension and side bolsters with memory
• Electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated Premium Relaxation front passenger seat
• Heated outer rear seats
• Nappa leather seat upholstery
• Electrically adjustable steering column with memory
• Suede door panel upholstery
• Suede headlining
• Head-up Display (HUD)
• Metal accelerator and brake pedals
• Virtual Gearshift
• Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM)