Korean premium auto model Genesis has mocked up a ute, and it’s left the door open for a manufacturing model.
Photos of the Hyundai luxurious model’s proposed electrical ute have been printed within the newest Auto&Design journal, and reshared by Anh Ðinh Hoàng on Instagram, alongside a rakish individuals mover and a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV.
“An electrical pickup truck? Why not?” Hyundai Motor Group’s chief inventive officer and chief design officer, Luc Donckerwolke, instructed the journal concerning the idea’s creation.
“Then we discarded it as a result of we needed to concentrate on totally different tasks. Perhaps sooner or later, who is aware of.”
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The unnamed idea was reportedly conceived with the US market in thoughts, although in hindsight it might have been for the most effective that Genesis didn’t go forward with the challenge given slumping gross sales of the Tesla Cybertruck and the axing of the electrical Ford F-150 Lightning.
As an alternative of using unibody building like all different Genesis merchandise, the ute idea is reportedly underpinned by a “chassis based mostly on two facet members” for higher off-road functionality, in line with the journal. That means it could have been a body-on-frame car, a primary for the model.
Whereas Genesis has by no means produced a ute, this idea is recognisable as a product of the model as a result of presence of signature design cues like two-line lighting entrance and rear (and for the facet indicators), plus a crest-shaped grille space.
On this idea, the grille space opens as much as reveal a entrance storage compartment – a reasonably much less sensible different to the under-storage space discovered below the standard bonnet of the F-150 Lightning.
There are flared however clean fenders, plus a entrance windscreen that curves to fulfill a reasonably flat roof and an abrupt (and due to this fact conventionally ute-styled) rear window.
Inside, there’s a rounded, minimalist sprint and what seems to be the notable absence of a centre console.
Mr Donckerwolke has beforehand poured chilly water on the thought of a Genesis-branded ute, even after the posh marque confirmed it could put a mannequin like final yr’s X Gran Equator off-road SUV idea into manufacturing.
“I’m unsure [a ute] matches the model,” Mr Donckerwolke instructed Australian media together with CarExpert in November 2025.
“We have now lots of different issues to do. And I believe mainly, we’re focusing extra on excessive efficiency and GT [Grand Touring] fashions.”
Mr Donckerwolke, who admits to proudly owning and driving a Ford F-150 Raptor personally, mentioned he believes that introducing a utilitarian car proper now poses a danger to the model’s fastidiously cultivated ‘Athletic Class’ picture.
“We have now to be sure that we’re not diluting the model with one thing which is extra utilitarian,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, the design boss stopped in need of a definitive “by no means”, leaving a sliver of hope for these dreaming of a Korean rival to the Ford Ranger Raptor or a luxurious tow rig.
“I’m not saying that this won’t occur,” Mr Donckerwolke conceded.
“However I’m saying that now, we’ve so many different priorities… I don’t suppose that that is the fitting factor for Genesis [right now].”
These different priorities embody a new flagship electrical SUV, in addition to sports activities automobiles.
Inside the Hyundai Motor Group, that leaves the Hyundai and Kia manufacturers to discipline ute choices.
Hyundai already has the Tucson-based Santa Cruz unibody ute in markets just like the US, and can launch a body-on-frame ute there earlier than 2030, plus one other one co-developed with Basic Motors in Latin America. Kia, in distinction, already has a body-on-frame ute within the Tasman.
Solely a handful of luxurious manufacturers have supplied utes up to now.
Cadillac supplied the Escalade EXT for a few generations, however extra not too long ago dominated out any plans to return to the phase; Lincoln supplied the F-150-based Blackwood, which was a flop, adopted by the considerably extra profitable Mark LT; and Mercedes-Benz fielded the Nissan Navara-based X-Class dual-cab, which was axed after lower than three years.
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