The Genesis brand officially turned a decade old last year, and it’s taken that milestone as an opportunity to get serious about performance. It’s campaigning a prototype Hypercar in endurance racing under the Magma label—a label that will also dignify its most hardcore enthusiast offerings. But lest you think Genesis was only concerned with winning on the track rather than off it, the company has unveiled a no-holds-barred rally raid machine called the X Skorpio, signaling just how serious it is about making off-roading part of its repertoire.
The X Skorpio is basically what you’d get if you took the body of that gorgeous Genesis X concept from a few years back and plopped it on top of a machine built to tackle the Dakar—with a few adjustments here and there, so everything fits. The dual-stripe light signature that runs front to back is present, encircling the grille, which is now flanked by two LED light clusters on each side.
There’s a big roof scoop and bulbous arches, concealing an 1,100-horsepower V8 that also makes 850 lb-ft of torque. Beadlock 18-inch wheels sit in beefy 40-inch tires at every corner, and favorable approach, departure, and breakover angles—obviously a must on the dunes—are complemented by a low-drag shell that also safeguards stability. Hey, aero isn’t just for road cars!
It should be noted that all the images of the X Skorpio appear to be rendered; what we wouldn’t give to see it sling sand like this in real life. If you’re one of the wealthy individuals who apparently submitted orders for the vehicle, per Car and Driver, then you’ll get that chance. Genesis says it’s building this thing, though it will be sold in extremely limited numbers, in the Middle East only, and it won’t be street legal.
And while the X Skorpio may look fit for next year’s desert classic, a peek in the cabin reveals a degree of design and luxury that you don’t often see in competition machines. There are suede accents and a diamond-quilted leather dash, sharing space with race-duty necessities like a roll cage, GPS system, and rally-spec LCD instrument cluster mounted to the wheel itself.
Genesis also took this opportunity to showcase a trio of production-based off-road one-offs, in the form of GV60 Outdoors Concept, GV70 Outdoors Concept, and GV80 Desert Edition. These aren’t strictly new; the GV60 one, for example, rides on treads that leave it looking a lot like the Mountain Intervention Vehicle concept from almost exactly a year ago. But they’re cool, and they signify that Genesis is serious about bringing more off-road sensibilities into its lineup.
After all, Hyundai has started to venture in that direction in recent years with the XRT line, and Genesis showed off a stunning SUV design not long ago, before sketching out a theoretical body-on-frame pickup, if you can believe it. It’s clear where the brand’s head is at, and that lifted and flared GV70 seems especially enticing and attainable. Let’s hope the next time we see something like it, it’s no longer a concept.
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