2028 Genesis GV90 First Look: Putting Range Rover and Cadillac on Notice

• What it is: The GV90 is an all-new luxury flagship SUV from Genesis — it's fully electric, will likely cost over $100,000, and some models have suicide doors.
• Why it matters: The Korean luxury brand intends to take on the biggest names (Range Rover, Cadillac and more) with its new full-size SUV.
• Edmunds says: Genesis is no longer messing around — it wants everyone to take it seriously and we think the GV90 might be the right car for that job. 

Sitting in the Caddy made me think Genesis has its work cut out for it. Full-size SUVs are the pinnacle of luxury these days, and looking at the tape measure, the GV90 is the same general size as vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, the upcoming Land Rover Range Rover EV, and just a tick smaller than the utterly massive Cadillac Escalade IQ. You could also see it as an alternative to big mainstream gas-powered luxury SUVs like the Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X7 and Audi Q9.

At the heart of it all is a question: Will the world be ready next year for a $100,000-plus flagship SUV from a relatively young luxury brand? Genesis is barely a decade old at this point, and fighting in this price range with brands that have near century-long legacies is no small task. However, having spent a day with the GV90, I think Genesis isn't just ready, it's putting its competitors on notice.  

No, seriously, a real-world concept car

Calling something a "real-world concept car" is an old cliché, but it turns out the Genesis Neolun that dropped at the New York Auto Show a couple years ago was just a thinly disguised GV90. And yeah, there was plenty of speculation that it previewed a production model, but there was no way Genesis would put concept-only headline grabbers like reverse-hinged rear doors (suicide doors, if you will), front seats that swivel to face the rear, and radiant heated floors into production, right?

Well, wouldn't you know it — the production GV90 will offer reverse-hinged doors, front seats that swivel to face the rear, and radiant heated floors in the top-of-the-line Neolun trim. It was all there hiding in plain sight, disguised simply by our own "they'd never do that for real" cynicism. I'm now left hoping the same holds true for the Magma GT "concept."

Underpinning the GV90 is a new architecture called eMP, which is a funny name for a high-tech electric car platform if you think about it. But rather than zapping electronics to oblivion, the Genesis eMP stands for "Electric Mobility Prime," and at its heart is a 123.5-kWh battery under the floor powering electric motors in the front and rear for a total of 657 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. Genesis says the GV90 should get about 310 miles from a charge, and its high-capacity charging system will bring the battery from 10% to 80% in 22 minutes when using a 350-kW charger. That's pretty competitive, at least on paper.

Whether you choose the rear-hinged doors of the GV90 Neolun, or the more traditionally hinged entrances of the standard trim GV90, you're getting a big SUV. The GV90 is 208.1 inches long, almost 79.9 inches wide, and about 72 inches tall in Neolun form thanks to the standard 24-inch wheels. Those dimensions are a bit longer than the Range Rover Long Wheelbase, about as wide, and not quite as tall. Its biggest bragging right is the wheelbase; there's 127.8 inches between the front and rear wheels, more than the EQS and Range Rover, but coming up short against the, again, truly gigantic Escalade IQ. 

Open-door policy

In person, I think the GV90 looks great. It's a clean, smooth design with a commanding presence, at least on the showroom floor, and I liked the styling details, like the jeweled effect of the headlight and lighting bands across the front. If there's one area where the styling could be a bit of a miss, it's the side profile. It's a little on the bland side, even with the cool lights on the front fenders subbing in for fender vents. On the Neolun, it goes a bit further: The closeness of the front and rear door handles, plus the shape of the roofline, give it an almost minivan-like look. Probably not what Genesis was going for. 

That aside, Genesis calls the fancy doors the Neolun Arch Gate, and there's a lot of engineering here to make them possible. The rear doors don't just hinge; they pop out slightly from the body before opening. This means the rear doors can operate independently from the fronts, and it also means when they're opened — you can do it using a power mechanism — both doors swing open at the same time, instead of front-then-rear. I think the result is as eye-catching as anything from the highest-end British brands. The doors glide open, the rear popping out slightly and then gliding open. Sure, it'd be nice if it opened a bit wider, but it's very cool to watch. 

You've probably noticed the Neolun doesn't have a pillar between the front and rear doors like nearly every other four-door car in existence. That pillar is an important factor in side-impact crashes, and Genesis incorporates that pillar when the doors are closed. However, it also goes further, noting an extensively reinforced surrounding structure, with high-strength dual steel beams, a concealed roll cage, and a steel-reinforced frame that's 1.5 times thicker than conventional vehicles. Genesis says this should make it as strong as a vehicle with a conventional door pillar, and even premieres a new airbag that covers the roof in case of a severe accident. For what it's worth, the non-Neolun version gets standard doors in the rear.

Stylish, high-end, and high-tech inside

Looking at photos, it's hard to tell what the interior would be like in person, but after experiencing it firsthand, it's a winner. It's roomy, and in my brief time inside, the seats were exceptionally comfortable. The leather is soft and smooth, and the soft-touch surfaces extend all the way to the floor; I was especially impressed by the lack of hard-touch plastics. 

There are two versions of the interior, but I'm going to start with the conventional GV90. Premium leather adorns the seats, of course, and the GV90 incorporates real materials throughout; if it looks like wood, it came from a tree, and if it looks like metal, it was smelted. The dash is dominated by an enormous 23.6-inch screen that incorporates the instrument cluster, navigation and everything else. 

When parked, the screen can pop up an additional 3.5 inches, transforming it into a multimedia display for movies and other media that you can enjoy while charging and so on. But one screen is never enough, and there's also a 25-inch head-up display projected onto the windshield that shows pretty much all the driving information you'll need so you don't need to keep looking at the main screen.

The control layout seems a little odd at first glance: The gear selector is sticking straight up behind the steering wheel. However, the GV90 has no start button; instead, it automatically turns on once you sit down inside. When you do, the gear selector motors down to the 2 o'clock position, the crystal ball on the center console turns over to reveal additional controls, and the covers over the dash-mounted audio system tweeters retract. There are cool details, like the glass buttons under the display. It is a very nice-looking interior.

The Neolun of course goes even further, especially with the Executive Suite. I could immediately tell the leathers were nicer — they're softer semi-aniline — and the experience feels as elegant and refined as anything you'd care to mention. Genesis pointed out some of the interior trims available, and I was particularly struck by the use of a slate veneer. Yes, slate, as in stone, applied in a very thin veneer on interior panels. It looks cool and feels cool to the touch.

The Executive Suite eliminates the third row entirely and puts in cushy reclining captain's chairs in the middle row, separated by a wide console that holds controls to adjust the seats, as well as a refrigerator. The leather quality is also upgraded, and there's a partition between the rear seats and the cargo area that insulates the interior even further from noise.

This configuration includes the pivoting seat feature, where the front seats turn around to face the rears, only when parked of course, creating a conference room of sorts. The seats in the GV90s on display were a little fiddly — the system had to be reset a couple of times; I'll chalk that up to these being very early examples — but the mechanism is fun to watch. You can't be sitting in it, and there can't be anybody in the rear seat, either; basically, everyone out. Hold the button on the door and the seatback folds forward, the seat pivots inward and eventually faces the rear, and then the seat slides backward, the seatback returning to its earlier recline. It takes about 30 seconds, but the result was roomier between the front and rear seats than I thought it would be. If nothing else, it's a fun and cool feature to show off to friends in a "Can your Range Rover do this?" kind of way. 

Genesis didn't skimp on the bougie details either. There's adjustable ambient lighting, quilted leather, and exotic color combinations like green and blue, and purple and beige, along with the usual shades of gray and brown. Overhead is an electronically dimmable glass moonroof, and for your listening pleasure, there's a Bang & Olufsen sound system with 25 speakers. 

First things first

As is the norm these days, Genesis will debut the GV90 with a special limited first-run edition. Called the GV90 Neolun First Edition, it combines the Neolun doors and the executive rear seating with special detailing, such as cashmere interior accents, along with a "First Edition" logo engraved on the crystal sphere on the center console, embroidered on the headrests, and on the door sills. The exterior will be available in one of three two-tone paint — including color-matched wheels — each paired with a particular interior color scheme. As nice as the regular Neolun model on display was, the First Edition upped the ante noticeably. I was particularly impressed by the cashmere accents; they extend across the doors and dash and are color coordinated with the rest of the interior. It makes the interior an experience. 

The problem of price?

The most expensive Genesis right now is the G90 sedan, which starts north of $90,000 and tops out at around $107,000 all in. As the flagship, my hunch is the GV90 will probably start close to $100,000 or so for the standard model. Above that, it's murkier, but considering the Neolun's fancy doors, I wouldn't be surprised if the asking price was notably higher, maybe around $130,000. Throw in the executive seating package and all the trimmings, and the price could wind up around $135,000. And probably add in a bit more for the First Edition. That's a lot, but not unreasonable — it would still undercut the $140,000 price of a loaded Escalade IQ. 

Is a Genesis worth that much? For me, it's not so much about price tags, but what you're getting for it. The GV90, especially the Neolun version, is clever and cool, and nobody else has doors like that. If there's one thing that's certain, Genesis came to play.