The Genesis GV80 has only been on the market for a few years but has already made a name for itself as one of the best luxury midsize SUVs on the market. It won our Best Buy Award in its class thanks to an engaging driving experience and a cabin that feels even more luxurious than its $57,450 starting price would imply.
But Genesis has seen fit to update it, anyway. The GV80 gets a styling refresh for the 2025 model year, including a sleek new SUV coupe body style.
Genesis hasn’t discussed pricing for the updated version.
Minor Nip-and-Tuck for Conventional Body Version
The standard-body model gets a few exterior changes. The grille gets a double mesh, replacing the diamond-patterned fill of the outgoing model. New mesh-lined corner vents beneath make the grille look lighter. From the rear, the exhaust tips are now hidden.
Remade, Contemporary Interior
Much bigger changes appear when you open the door. The 2024 model has a central touchscreen and a separate gauge cluster for the driver. The 2025 will get a single, wide display running from the driver’s view across the dashboard’s center — 27 inches wide. It looks thinner than most similar designs.
Elegant knobs and touch-capacitive buttons beneath handle HVAC duties to keep drivers from hunting through menus to adjust the temperature.
In an era when car designers fall in love with endless grays, Genesis designers have recently offered more interesting interior colors. Genesis promises five choices for 2025 but hasn’t said what they all are. Press photos show a lovely dark blue over cream color scheme and one wearing dark green over medium brown leather.
Gorgeous New Coupe Option
If you haven’t had a good reason to pay attention to car design trends, the term “SUV coupe” sounds bizarre. It doesn’t refer to a 2-door sport utility vehicle. Instead, it describes a sportier version of an SUV with a curving roofline. SUV coupes often sacrifice a bit of space in the name of beauty.
Some manufacturers treat them as two different models. BMW, for instance, sells a more traditionally boxy X5 and a sleeker X6 coupe as if they were separate vehicles. But the chassis, engine, transmission, and many other parts are identical.
Others treat them like trim levels. Audi, for instance, builds a Q5 SUV and sells a coupe-style Q5 Sportback but doesn’t pretend it’s an entirely different car.
Genesis has adopted the second strategy with the GV80. No need for a new name here — the sloped-roof model is just the “GV80 Coupe.” And it’s a stunner.
Genesis hasn’t revealed how many cubic feet of cargo space were sacrificed to make the roof more stylish. But few would deny that the look works. A split-style roof spoiler makes it look particularly unique.
It also gets a new engine option.
New Engine Choice With Turbo- and Supercharger
Buyers opting for the traditional body style get the same choices as the 2024 model — a turbocharged 2.5-liter 4-cylinder making 300 horsepower or a 3.5-liter turbo V6 making 375.
Coupe buyers get a third choice — a version of the same V6 fitted with a 48-volt electric supercharger. Yes, it compresses air twice, Genesis explains, “once through the motor in the low engine (rpm) range and again through the 3.5T e-S/C [electric supercharger] — to advance the maximum torque and improving acceleration response at low and medium speeds.”
That’s good for 409 hp. Coupes also get high-performance trappings like “Sports+ driving mode, Launch Control, and a cluster that displays oil temperature, torque, and turbo pressure, engaging drivers with a more agile and dynamic experience in the car.”
Already In the Lead and Speeding Away
We’re impressed. The GV80 was already our top choice among luxury midsize SUVs, so we have no complaints about upgrading it. And the coupe body gives buyers willing to trade space for style a new option.
Only time will tell whether the enthusiast public is ready for a Genesis SUV with an oil temperature gauge and launch control. But we hope they are because more gorgeous choices are never bad.
