Genesis Electrified G80 Review 2025

Prestige saloons always sold in relatively tiny numbers long before luxury SUVs came along to reduce them even further. Yet for upmarket brands they’re still important standard bearers, condensing the ethos of the marque into a single model, which is why newcomers Genesis offers its premium four-door with both petrol and electric power. Find out how good the latter of those is with our full Genesis Electrified G80 review.

When mainstream car manufacturers launch standalone luxury-focused sub-brands against a host of others with a long history in the field, they need to be in it for the long game. Lexus has had the most success so far in Europe, significantly more than DS which is still struggling to establish itself, while Infiniti was an abject failure in this part of the world.

So what hope for the posh wing of Hyundai — Genesis? It quickly launched a flurry of models, some of which have already been facelifted or discontinued, but all of which have substance. Genesis evidently has its eye on a significant portion of that market.

However, to hold its head up in the luxury saloon segment of the electric car market, the Genesis Electrified G80 will need to take on an array of polished pros such as the BMW i5 Saloon and Mercedes EQE Saloon.

They may be more four-door coupe than sumptuous saloons but the Audi e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan can’t be ignored by Genesis, either. On the flip-side of the coin, the Volvo ES90 goes the other way by being a hatchback that somehow simultaneously looks like a saloon and an SUV.

There’s very little to tell the electric version from its petrol Genesis G80 sibling. The large front grille has been blanked-off — with somewhat gaudy results — as less air is generally required to get into the front of the car. Astern, there are no exhaust pipes. It remains a good looking car, not harmed by its resemblance to the Audi A7 Sportback in profile.

On board, the interior couldn’t be less Audi. Indeed, it’s the very antithesis to the latter’s sharp, shiny yet strangely gloomy detailing. Almost from another era, the cabin is sumptuous in its use of genuine timber, hide and metals.

The soft leather front seats are positively plush and extremely comfortable, even if the accommodation of 546kg worth of batteries below decks has raised the driving position by a significant 10cm. You will, though, still have to be something of a bean pole for the ceiling to trouble your toupee.

The battery stowage also impacts on the rear seats, with foot room a gentle issue. But the seats themselves are comfortable, with adequate leg- and headroom. Less wholesome is the beautifully trimmed boot space which, at a paltry 354 litres, is far less than that of the petrol-engined G80.

Although touchscreen-equipped, the Electrified G80’s infotainment system also features a rotary controller on the centre console to avoid stretching. Further good news is the raft of shortcut buttons and a panel of physical controls for the air-conditioning. It all works superbly while the 18-speaker Lexicon audio package is almost sufficient to vibrate ear wax out of your head.

The Genesis Electrified G80 is only available in one trim level, appropriately titled Luxury, which is easily comprehensive enough to be Christened ‘Kitchen Sink’. Nevertheless, Genesis has held back a sufficient suite of niceties to flog you a selection of packs where you can further ramp-up the technology and comfort.

There’s also only one drive system available, with two motors providing all-wheel drive and a 370PS total output. The Genesis’s 87.2kWh gross capacity battery is ample for a reasonable driving range of 323 miles.

Tiny boot aside, with so much in its favour it’s disappointing to have to report that the driving experience lets the Genesis Electrified G80 down more than just a little. You’d expect it to be properly wafty yet it rides too firmly for that, yet it also lacks the body control to be a nimble sports saloon. The smoother, more flowing the road, the better the Genesis feels.

A stock Genesis Electrified G80 will set you back almost £70,000, a lot of money in anyone’s book, yet represents strong value compared with those aforementioned alternatives. Plus you’ll be allotted your own Genesis Personal Assistant who’ll hold your hand through the sale, from test drive to delivery and later aftercare. The Assistant isn’t on commission, so you won’t suffer the indignities of the hard sell. Rivals will be watching with interest.

Genesis Electrified G80: Range

Unfortunately the Genesis Electrified G80’s chassis seems to have been engineered with a focus on dynamism rather than ride refinement. Rather than adopting air suspension to take the sting out of the car’s considerable 2349kg heft, the Genesis relies on steel coils and adaptive damping.

Sure, it has a trick Ride Preview system that reads the road ahead with a camera to prime the suspension for ruts and bumps, but that doesn’t negate the fact the ride is consistently over-firm, reporting back on every lump and bump, even if a speaker-employing active noise-cancelling system means you don’t hear them as loudly as you otherwise might.

Moreover, despite the gently tough ride, body control isn’t the best, which it would need to be to encourage you to push this long and wide saloon down narrower winding roads. The steering gives no cause for complaint but the brakes feel rather woolly, not what you want under your left foot when trying to take the pace of a fast car this heavy.

All of which leaves the Genesis Electrified G80 at its best on the smoother motorways, where it stops shrugging its shoulders. Here the lack of wind and road noise finally makes for the relaxed driving experience the car should be delivering over a far wider range of surfaces.

There’s also only one drive system available for the Genesis Electrified G80 with a pair of identical 185PS front and rear electric motors giving all-wheel drive capability and a total power output of 370PS and 700Nm of torque.

Under normal circumstances, only the rear motor powers the car, with the front motor only joining in for the full beans or if it’s a tad slippery underfoot.

All that shove is responsible for a 0-62mph time of only 4.9 seconds and — more impressively given many EVs’ propensity to peter out at higher speeds — 100mph in only 11.8 seconds. The car will surge on to 139mph, by which time we imagine the range indicator is dropping like an anvil kicked over a cliff.

The petrol-engined Genesis G80 was awarded a maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating when it was crash-tested in 2021, scoring 91% for adult occupant safety, 87% for child occupant safety, 77% for vulnerable road users and an impressive 91% for safety assist technologies.

Standard safety technology includes a blizzard of airbags, rear BCA (blind-spot collision-avoidance assist), LKA (lane-keeping assist),   FCA (forward collision-avoidance assist) (car/pedestrian/bicycle), ISLA (intelligent speed limit assist), MSLA (manual speed limit assist), FCA-J (forward collision-avoidance assist - junction turning), LFA (lane-following assist), HDA (highway driving assist), rain sensing wipers and rear parking sensors.

The optional (and pricey) £3560 Innovation Pack further ups the car’s safety credentials with the addition of parking collision avoidance assist, blind-spot view monitor, surround-view monitor and a head-up display.

If you plan to tow with a Genesis Electrified G80, you’re out of luck — it’s not rated for any kind of hauling duties.

At 5005mm long, the Genesis Electrified G80 is a big car. That’s further reflected in a wheelbase of a whisker over 3000mm. Both of which handsome dimensions beg the question: ‘Where has all the space gone?’

Well, the stowing of a stout battery pack beneath the floor of the G80 has pushed the seating upwards a good four inches in a car that’s only 1475mm high. In truth, even if the driving position does feel a tad nose-bleedy, only the very tall will risk an encounter with the suede headlining.

The rear seat footwells are deep enough that passengers can sit with their knees at a natural angle, but legroom is a little less generous than we’d expect, a situation exacerbated by the lack of foot-room under the front seats, which will inevitable be set as low as possible by their occupants to escape the perceived proximity of the ceiling. It’ll be a bit of a squeeze to fit three across the rear bench though, the slightly raised middle seat will rule it out for taller folk anyway.

Our test car boasted the Executive Pack — £3020 on top of the cost of the Comfort Seat Pack — which throws in rear sun blinds, heated rear seats plus two screens for the rear passengers with controls for the lot in the rear armrest.

Sadly, with the exception of a central ski hatch, the rear seats don’t fold down. This means that Genesis Electrified G80 buyers get a worse deal from their Executive Pack than regular petrol G80 owners, who smug it up in ventilated and adjustable rear seats that also fold in a 40:20:40 split.

It’s the powered boot lid-accessed luggage space which suffers most through the electrification process, though. All that remains is a paltry 354 litres, some 70 litres less than that of the petrol-engined G80. Moreover, there’s not so much as a whiff of a frunk under that long bonnet.

This cabin is something of an eye-opener compared with the luxury saloon norms — it couldn’t be less Teutonic. Not only does the Genesis Electrified G80’s interior look lush and plump, it is. Squidgily tactile and beautifully finished, it’s also extremely comfortable to boot.

Almost from another era, the cabin is sumptuous in its use of real wood, real leather and real aluminium, with colour combinations that amplify the fact that this isn’t remotely run of the mill. Wherever you rummage, plastic is very hard to come by indeed. The whole — a military mile from the German austerity that dominates this class — is strangely satisfying.

All that physical switchgear, such as the air-conditioning controls, is also entirely wholesome too, we couldn’t find fault with a single twiddle, press or prod. Perhaps real buttons may once again become the hallmark of true luxury after all.

The Genesis Electrified G80’s infotainment system comprises a 12.3-inch TFT driver display and a central, ultrawide 14.5-inch touchscreen that needn’t be because you can barely reach it while driving. Usefully it’s linked to a rotary controller on the centre console.

Further good news is the raft of shortcut buttons and a panel of physical controls for the air-conditioning. The whole looks good, works superbly and includes DAB radio, Bluetooth, integrated navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, plus a stonking 18-speaker Lexicon speaker system.

It must be said, though, that putting two rather similar rotary dials in close tandem proximity of the transmission tunnel — one the drive selector, the other the infotainment controller — isn’t a great idea for eyes-off grabbing of the right one. We expect you get used to it.

The driver’s 12.3-inch TFT instrument display is part of the £3560 Innovation Pack. It features helpful blind-spot camera feeds that appear when you indicate, a head-up display and a gaggle of driver assistance systems. It also includes an optional 3D-effect display which is switchable on account of making some viewers queasy. Much like The Jonathan Ross Show. Plus there are four USB ports fitted as standard, two per seating tier.

That optional Executive Pack we mentioned previously additionally allows rear seat passengers to check the navigation map, weather and sports results, adjust the rear climate and control the media.

The latter two options are less useful than you’d think, however the rear centre console contains controls for the rear climate anyway, the rear screens can’t control Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and there don’t appear to be any streaming services built into the rear entertainment package, suggesting the Executive Pack is more for parents than executives.

The solitary Luxury model that is the Genesis Electrified G80 line-up costs £69,905 — this is self-evidently a lot of money but it buys you a lot of car and content.

You can drive away a Mercedes EQE Saloon from £69,115 and a BMW i5 Saloon from £67,640, but to reach any sort of level of equipment parity with the Genesis’ range of standard fit kit you’ll be spending more on the German offerings.

Porsche’s cheapest coupe-like Taycan glides into view at £88,200, which is still a cool four grand more than the fully loaded Electrified G80 we drove. Even the new Volvo ES90 — which is actually a five-door hatchback rather than a conventional four-door saloon — starts at £69,660 and you won’t be able to get your hands on one until 2026 anyway.

Careful consideration of which suits your needs best would seem to be the order of the day.

As the Genesis Electrified G80 costs over £40,000, you’ll be spending an extra £425 per annum on the Expensive Car Supplement for five years from the second time you tax the car, on top of the £195 yearly VED levy introduced in April 2025. The era of tax breaks for EVs is evidently over…

Unless you’re a company car driver where they remain such good value that it begs the question why you’d opt for anything with a combustion engine when Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) taxation is just 3% for 2025/26.

Genesis has partnered with Shell Recharge to give access to its charging points, along with five years’ free access to the Ionity network at a discounted rate of 24p/kWh rather than the standard rate of 69p/kWh.

The Solar Roof Pack fitted to the car we drove — a £1360 option — can charge the drive battery while parked. Genesis estimates it can add as much as 715 free miles over the course of a year.

Every Genesis is covered by a five-year Care Plan which includes scheduled servicing over that period or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first. With each service visit — and for any necessary work required, including warranty work — Genesis will collect and return the car to your door. You simply contact your Genesis personal Assistant, who can also arrange a courtesy car.

The Care Plan also includes updates to in-car navigation maps, plus there’s complimentary subscription to Genesis Connected Services, allowing you to access information services from your phone.

Genesis Electrified G80: Range and charging

The Genesis Electrified G80 delivers a competitive range of some 323 miles according to the WLTP Combined cycle tests courtesy of its 87.2kWh gross capacity battery.

As with all EVs from the Hyundai Motor Group, the electrical architecture is 800-volt-capable, which means it can use ultra-rapid chargers at a rate of up to 350kW, allowing it to inhale a 10%-80% charge in as little as 22 minutes.

Using an 11kW-capable domestic wallbox for a 10%-100% charge requires 7 hours 30 minutes. As most households will be limited to a 7.4kW maximum flow rate — for which Genesis doesn’t quote a time — expect that to be in the order of 13-14 hours.

The Genesis Electrified G80 only is available in one top-of-the-range Luxury trim level.

Standard features on the Genesis Electrified G80 Luxury grade include dual LED headlights with automatic main beam, 21-inch alloy wheels, auto-dimming door mirrors, Preview ECS (Electronic Control Suspension), a smart key which allows you to start and move the car from outside, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

Once inside you’ll notice the faux leather dashboard, a leather steering wheel, electrically adjustable and heated front seats, leather upholstery, multi-coloured LED ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, a 14.5-inch multimedia touchscreen with DAB radio, smartphone mirroring, integrated navigation and Genesis Connected Services, an 8.0-inch driver display screen, a fingerprint-reading security system, plus SCC adaptive cruise control with stop and start.

Optional equipment includes the Innovation Pack (£3560), the Convenience Pack (£1170), the Nappa Leather Seat Pack (£2310), the Solar Roof Pack (£1360) and the Comfort Seat Pack + Executive Pack (£4960).

Innovation Pack:

• Automatic child door locks
• Reverse PCA (parking collision-avoidance assist)
• Dual LED headlights with adaptive beams
• 3-inch driver display screen
• Head-up display
• FCA-JX (forward collision avoidance assist — junction turnings and crossings)
• RSPA (remote smart parking assist)
• SVM (surround view monitor cameras)
• Augmented reality navigation
• BVM (blind-spot view monitor)
• HDA II (highway driving assist)
• Wireless smartphone charging

Convenience Pack:

• Heated leather steering wheel
• Electrically operated boot lid
• Rear-seat air-conditioning controls

Nappa Leather Seat Pack:

• Nappa leather upholstery with eco-friendly tanning
• Suede headlining, sun visors and roof pillars
• Leather upper dashboard console

Solar Roof Pack:

• Dual side contact cell (solar roof)
• Personal lamp (LED)

Comfort Seat Pack + Executive Pack:

• Electrically adjustable steering wheel with memory function
• Memory function for electrically adjustable driver’s seat
• Massage function front seats
• Walk-in device (front passenger seat controls accessed from rear seats
• Ventilated front seats
• Heated rear seats
• Laminated rear side windows
• Rear centre armrest with control box wireless smartphone charger
• Dual rear screens
• Soft-close doors
• Manual rear door blinds
• Electric rear windscreen blind