When you’re an upstart luxury brand looking to make a serious splash in the burgeoning electric vehicle game, ya gotta bring your A-game. And for Genesis, that might just mean turning to EV experts like Lucid Motors to provide the high-performance electric muscle under the hood.
According to recent rumors out of South Korea, Hyundai’s premium Genesis marque is in the final stages of hammering out an agreement that could see Lucid’s lauded electric motors end up in future Genesis EVs. If the deal goes through, it would mark Lucid’s second major motor supply partnership after linking up with Aston Martin last year.
Why would a brand like Genesis, with Hyundai’s vast engineering resources behind it, opt to outsource EV propulsion to a relative newcomer like Lucid? Well, when you take a closer look at Genesis’ aggressive electrification roadmap, the potential benefits start making sense.
The Genesis X Convertible: A Prime Candidate?
Word is Genesis has big plans to bring the stunning Genesis X Convertible concept to production by 2026, aiming to establish the open-top EV as a legitimate Bentley rival. With that aggressive timeline looming, outsourcing Lucid’s proven, high-performance EV motors could provide a relatively “efficient” path to market, both in terms of cost and development speed according to reports.
Plus, Lucid’s motors have already demonstrated impressive real-world refinement, power output, and range in the Air sedan – exactly the caliber you’d want for a Genesis ultra-premium convertible EV. Playing in those luxe segments, partnering with an EV powertrain specialist like Lucid could be a smart shortcut to legitimacy.
There are a few other tantalizing crumbs hinting at a potential Genesis/Lucid tie-up beyond just the X Convertible too. For starters, Hyundai’s head honchos purportedly paid a visit to Lucid HQ in California earlier this year, while Lucid vehicles have also been spotted testing on South Korean roads.
There’s even a separate Korean report that Lucid has inked a deal with a local firm to provide key autonomous driving hardware like radars and cameras for the upcoming Gravity SUV.
To be clear, this is still very much speculative until either Lucid or Genesis officially confirms any sort of supplier relationship. But all the smoke surrounding the two brands certainly points to a deepening collaborative fire that could supercharge Genesis’ electrified ambitions in the coming years.
Luxury EVs are a whole different ballgame than mainstream models. If the rumors hold true, Genesis seems to recognize that harsh reality and is prudently considering every advantage – even if it means turning to fresh EV talent like Lucid for some extra propulsion oomph.