Sometimes, I worry I’ll never see another concept car that excites me. I remember geeking out on them as a kid, usually while playing Forza Motorsport 4 and wondering what it would be like to see a Cadillac Cien in person. Now, I wouldn’t say the new Genesis X Gran Equator Concept reaches that level of excitement for me, but I’ll be darned if it’s not interesting. And I can confidently say that it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen.
You could call the X Gran Equator Concept an SUV, but it’s not shaped like a normal one. That hood is long enough to fit a V12 and for all we know, it could; Genesis didn’t mention any powertrain details in the car’s reveal. The wheel arches are giant enough to fit 24-inch beadlock wheels and, y’know, the back of the car almost looks like the front. It reminds me of the now-defunct Canoo cab-forward pickup just flipped around.
That’s not to say it’s bad. Again, it’s so different that it’s automatically worth discussing—like a concept should be. Arguably the most distinctive features are the stacked, parallel LED strips that nearly circle the entire car and are only broken up by the doors and wheelwells. It’s most visually interesting out back where the red tails wrap around the back fenders, and I haven’t even mentioned the split tailgate yet.
Genesis took the executive 2+2 seating route inside with center consoles in the front and back rows. Bolstered two-tone seats with quilted leather really pull off the look—the theme is cohesive, which can’t always be said about these wild design exercises. Each passenger even gets their own glass panel overhead as part of what must be the most unique roof I’ve ever seen on an SUV (or something close to one).
The driver and front passenger area is defined not by what’s there, but by what isn’t: A gigantic touchscreen. There are small, digital faces on the circular instrumentation but there’s no iPad jutting out of the dash. It even has physical switches on the center stack. This jives with what Hyundai Group design boss Luc Donckerwolke told us last week when he said analog car interiors will make a comeback in the next model generation or two.
Genesis says the X Gran Equator Concept isn’t confirmed for production, though some of its features could show up in road cars down the line; the press release explicitly mentioned the integrated roof rails and split-opening tailgate. We’ll see what happens from here but if any brand were to go this extreme with a production model, it just might be Genesis. Hats off to them for making a concept worth talking about again.
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