Genesis has dropped an unusual custom machine seemingly out of nowhere. It revealed on Instagram that it created a custom Genesis GV80 for famed racer and now Genesis Brand Partner Jacky Ickx. The gift coincides with the upcoming Dakar rally, an event in which Ickx and his team won their class in 1983. Though, frustratingly, the company has barely said anything about the vehicle, despite it seeming to have many modifications.
Genesis
Genesis was initially launched as a Hyundai vehicle model – the Genesis sedan in 2004 – but in 2015, it became a standalone luxury brand in the same vein as Toyota’s Lexus or Honda’s Acura. Since then, the G90 has become a symbol of Korean luxury in a German-dominated premium market, and with new plans to take on the likes of AMG with a Magma performance sub-brand, Genesis is showing no signs of slowing.
- Founded
- 2015
- Headquarters
- Seoul, South Korea
- Owned By
- Hyundai Motor Group
- Current CEO
- Jae-Hoon Chang
Clearly The Most Off-Road Ready Genesis Yet
At the very least, there are plenty of modifications that are obvious from the outside. Naturally, the package comes with chunky tires, and they seem to be wrapped around beadlock wheels. We can’t make out the exact size, but they’re clearly larger than the low-profile 265-mm wide street tires that come standard since some prominent fender flares have been added to cover them. There also appears to be a bit more space between the wheel wells and the tires, pointing to a lift. Up front, huge red recovery points have been fitted along with two pairs of LED auxiliary lights. Up on the top is a roof basket with LED light bars on each side, plus a complement of off-road accessories. The whole SUV is also finished in a navy blue paint with a silvery white stripe like Ickx’s many racing helmets.
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According to Carscoopsthere may even be some sort of night vision system on board. The Instagram images also show Ickx signing the engine bay, and other than some doodles of palm trees in sand dunes, there doesn’t seem to be much difference under the hood. We’re assuming Genesis is using the most potent version of the SUV with the twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 with 375 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque. All-wheel-drive is a given, too. If anything else has changed, it’s not visible to us, and until Genesis puts out a more official announcement than just some Instagram photos, any further discussion of the vehicle’s abilities would be total conjecture.
Genesis Seems Extremely Serious About Motorsports And Performance
Now that Genesis seems to have a solid foothold in the luxury market, it’s seriously focused on speed, as well as plushness. It hired Ickx as a partner back in February. At the New York Auto Show in March, Genesis officially launched the Magma sub-brand with previews of upcoming performance models, even the electric GV60. It even recently confirmed that every Genesis model would get a Magma variant, and that some kind of sports car is on the way.
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Genesis is going racing, too. It recently showed the GMR-001, an LMDh-class endurance race car that will be entering the World Endurance Championship in 2026 and IMSA in 2027. That will include a run at Le Mans (we wonder if Ickx, a multiple Le Mans champion, will get another special car for that event). And before that car is ready, Genesis will campaign a lower LMP2-class car in 2025. Genesis wants to be seen as fast, and it’s wasting no time in doing so.
