An off-roader from Genesis? The Korean brand known for luxury cars and SUVs has built one of the coolest off-road concepts I’ve seen in a very long time, and a few more wild ones.
Genesis revealed the X Skorpio Concept in the desert, and it is designed to make you think it can conquer it. It also showed off the new GV60 Outdoors and GV70 Outdoors concepts, as well as the GV80 Desert Edition.
Genesis X Skorpio Concept
This isn’t some GV70 that the Genesis team has spent a few days on in the shop. The X Skorpio Concept is like a high-class trophy truck. Built from the ground up to be an off-roader, starting with a tubular frame and a full roll cage.
“The X Skorpio concept is an extreme off-road vehicle designed to be driven across the toughest and harshest terrain,” said Luc Donckerwolke, Chief Creative Officer of Genesis. The inspiration for the design was a black scorpion, which thrives in harsh deserts.
Tube Frame, Massive V8 Power
Genesis packed a monster of an engine into the X Skorpio Concept. The V8 makes 1,100 horsepower and 850 pound-feet of torque, making every production off-roader look like a snail in comparison.
It wears 40-inch tires on 18-inch beadlock wheels. Brembo Motorsport brakes handle the stopping, and it has a suspension tuned to cope with its extreme ground clearance. Donckerwolke said that Genesis sourced loads of parts directly from off-road endurance racing specialists for this build.
The body is extreme, but it still sticks with the Genesis styling language. On this concept, the body work is removable panels, but it still wears the Two Line idea in the grille, front and rear lights, and the side trim.
Genesis X Skorpio Concept Luxury Interior
Inside, though, this is heavy on the luxury. The race-ready seats are also meant to be ergonomic. The dash is still quilted leather, and it has special desert-ready climate control systems. The copilot’s navigation screen can slide to the center, letting it be driven by just one person instead of two.
Genesis says that this beast was “tailored to the automotive culture and lifestyle of the Middle East,” but it would look just as at home jumping dunes in the U.S. It’s just one of the off-road concepts the brand revealed at the Liwa Oasis in the UAE.
How About a Tracked GV60 Concept?
Moving from extreme to production-ready, the next Genesis off-road concept is the GV60 Outdoors. Forget about tall tires, Genesis gave this battery-electric GV60 a set of tracks. It didn’t have much to say about it, but we’re not sure there’s much more to say about this machine. It’s a GV60 tank! Just don’t ask about range.
More Genesis Off-Road Concepts
Genesis also showed a GV70 Outdoors, built with help from German off-road experts Delta4x4. This is a lifted GV70 that has flared fenders and tall all-terrain tires. Add some extra goodies, and it looks ready to enter production in a category that doesn’t really currently exist.
The GV80 Desert Edition is familiar, but it showed us where Genesis is getting its off-road inspiration. This SUV is blue with white accents, just like the helmet worn by Jacky Ickx. That’s former F1 driver and Paris-Dakar Rally winner Jacky Ickx, who just happens to be a brand partner and used the GV80 to compete in the Dakar last year.
Will Genesis Build the X Skorpio Concept?
Will Genesis build anything like these? “We create concept cars to inspire and ignite authentic passion for our vision. They are designed to deepen the emotional connection with our customers by showcasing the ultimate desirability they’ve always dreamt of,” said Donckerwolke. Sadly, that sounds like a no to us.
But the automaker said, “Genesis is paving the way for a future of limitless possibilities in the luxury automotive space.” Which sounds like a maybe, even if it’s still a no.
Read the full article here