My father Edgar, a Welsh-born aircraft engineer, drove some interesting cars after arriving in Australia as a 10-pound Pom in 1951, leaving behind his treasured 1934 three-wheeler Morgan.
You can pick up one of these today for a mere $60,000!
The family’s subsequent ‘fleet’ included, among others, a Ford Zephyr Six, a 1951 English Vanguard saloon, a convertible British Standard … and a Cortina, which, happily, stayed with the family for five years before a 1973 Toyota Tiara came along.
Since then, Cortina fan clubs have sprung up across Australia and globally, in fact, mindful that in 1968, this car, a joint Hyundai-Ford project, was the first automobile assembled by the Hyundai Motor Group and remained a favourite of Hyundai founder Jung Joo-Young until his death in 2001.
A son of poor Korean farmers, Jung became the richest man in South Korea – and was also its largest shipbuilder – who turned Hyundai into the country’s largest automobile manufacturer.
Now headquartered in Seoul, the company owns 33.88% of the Kia Corporation and fully owns two marques, including its luxury car subsidiary, Genesis, and the electric vehicle brand, Ioniq.
The ‘Concept Genesis’ was designed as a progressive interpretation of the modern rear-wheel-drive sports sedan. The body took three years to design and a 12-month assembly program that cost US $500 million. Reliability tests were carried out across all Aussie road conditions across more than 1 million km.
The Genesis G70 is very well-equipped for its price, packs a sporting chassis and is available in sedan and ‘shooting brake’ body styles.
The wagon variant, the entry-level option, is priced from $81,000 plus on-road costs, with the V6-powered flagship tested here starting from $88,000.
The rich, red cabin furniture is a gob-smacker – Nappa leather interior is standard, along with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats and heated rear outboard seats, topped off with a 15-speaker premium sound system.
The high performance 3.3-litre, six-cylinder twin-turbo petrol engine is capable of a hearty 274 kW of peak power and 510 Nm of torque, driving the rear wheels by way of an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Safety features include G70’s high-beam status to secure the driver’s vision safely, partially blocking the light from oncoming vehicles.
Centre-side airbags applied to the front seats help prevent injuries between the driver and front passenger or collisions with interior parts. In total there are 10 airbags including a driver’s knee airbag.
The Genesis G70 ‘shooting brake’ adds an element of practicality to the exterior of the sedan while the trunk space and the combination of a single-piece glass hatch and integrated spoiler maximises the space for easy trunk access.
Navigation is cutting-edge new technology that automatically downloads and updates after checking the version of the software and map by connecting the vehicle to the server wirelessly.
The Genesis G70 ‘shooting brake’ adds an element of practicality to the exterior of the new sedan and offers increased trunk space while bringing a sleek and elegant coupe design at the same time.
Boot space is an ample 330 litres with rear seats in place. A more dynamic driving experience is expressed by applying G70’s Sport+ mode, which is specific for driving on the track beyond everyday sports driving, intended for closed circuit driving only.
Fuel economy is a tested 13.4-litre/100km drawn from a 60- litre fuel tank. Genesis estimates acceleration at 0-100 km/hour will take 4.7 seconds.
Roof racks minimise aero drag for improved fuel economy and reduced wind noise at highway speeds. The racks also provide maximum load carrying capacity tested to Australian standards.
An updated dashboard brings a touch-based set of controls for the air-conditioning that are within easy reach putting plenty of rivals in the shade for usability. A new row of silver toggles sitting above it make it easy to jump around the infotainment system, a reskinned version of the Hyundai software gradually being replaced across its range.
All Genesis G70 models come with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty (for privately operated vehicles) and five years or 50,000 km of complimentary scheduled servicing, required every 12 months or 10,000 km.
The G70 shape was drafted by former Audi auto designer Peter Schreyer who is also responsible for designing the related Kia Stinger, which was sadly dismissed from Kia’s assembly line in October 2022 due to declining demand worldwide. Korea itself could only muster a sale of 1499 units and so began Kia’s electrification strategy starting with a plan to introduce an electric coupe-type saloon.
So, let’s pull up an unabashed quote from Hyundai chairman Chung Eui-sun: “Why follow the crowd into a BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class when you can get more bang for your buck at a lower price and still stand out?”
Comment: The CEO of Hyundai Motor says the South Korean company will continue to deliver competitive electric vehicles for US customers even without government subsidies, expressing Hyundai’s strategy to not be affected by Washington’s energy policy after its tight presidential election next month. South Korean businesses are facing uncertainty over their US business environment after the election, particularly due to the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act that has attracted billions of dollars of investment from Korean companies including Hyundai. While Democratic runner and US Vice President Kamala Harris supports the IRA program, Republican candidate and former US President Donald Trump vowed to reverse it.
