Genesis Electrified G80 review: the ‘Korean Mercedes' of electric luxury saloons

Times

4 days ago

Back in the 1990s, those in the UK chauffeuring trade began talking enthusiastically about a new car brand from the Far East that was a genuine alternative to Mercedes and BMW. A Lexus, they would tell you, is just as comfortable and spacious while being more reliable and efficient than the equivalents from Germany.
Then, in the early 2000s, Alan Partridge ruined all that with his strong endorsement of 'Lexi'. But bad news for Lexus could be good news for Genesis, which chauffeurs in the 2020s must surely be describing as 'the Korean Mercedes', due to their similar focus on ride comfort, luxury interiors, customer service and quality.
The poshest of all Genesi (in this country, at least) is now the Electrified G80, a fully electric executive saloon that first arrived in 2022 but has now been stretched and comprehensively updated for 2025.
In size terms it sits between the BMW i5 and i7, but at £75,615 is priced to compete with the smaller Beemer (in M Sport trim) and its rival, the Mercedes EQE AMG Line. So it's pricey, yes, but not compared to the cars it hopes to unseat in the posh saloon market.
And actually in terms of space for VIPs in the rear, the Electrified G80 is now much more impressive because the engineers have pushed the front and rear axles further apart — by a full 130mm, in fact — and that makes a significant difference in terms of legroom.
It also means that Genesis has been able to fit a larger 95.4kWh battery in a flat pack under the floor and so, instead of needing to be charged up every 323 miles (according to the standardised lab test), it is claimed the new model will go 354 miles before it needs to be plugged in.
Of course, as usual with EVs we have to warn you that ambient temperature and driving style are among the factors that can affect range, and you might not get that in the real world. I managed to get about three miles per kWh out of it on my test drive, which suggests 286 miles is more realistic. But Genesis has fitted a heat pump and battery heater as standard, so cold weather is likely to have less of an impact than with some other EVs and on motorways the front e-motor disengages to improve efficiency.
For people shouting at the screen, 'But my diesel car can go 700 miles between fill-ups, and it only takes five minutes,' well, yeah, but you can't fill up at home or the office for a fraction of the price, so it's swings and roundabouts, really. Obviously an EV is not suitable for everyone, but this could save some cost-conscious businesses a lot in fleet costs over time.
For long journeys there's good news, too, in that the Electrified G80 has an 800-volt electrical system — the same power level as a Porsche Taycan and twice as much as you get with most modern EVs — and that enables ultra-fast charging. Find a suitable DC public charger and you could get the battery from 10 to 80 per cent full in 25 minutes, which is enough time to fire several employees or commit adultery in the back seats. More than once, probably. All while Parker is off buying you an oat milk matcha latte.
Not that Parker gets a bad deal, as driving the Electrified G80 is really rather pleasant. It has velvety suspension, as you'd expect, helped by cameras that pick up imperfections in the road and then inform the dampers about how much pressure is required at each wheel and when. The ride is helped by that extended wheelbase, as the bumps are less jarring, and having extra distance between the front and rear wheels improves stability too.
Even better for those wanting a luxury experience is that it's amazingly hushed inside, thanks not only to industrial quantities of insulation behind the panels but also active noise cancellation via the Bang & Olufsen sound system.
The panoramic digital screen in front of you is just that: one complete screen, spanning a huge 27 inches corner-to-corner, with pixels filling the entire thing. Other cars often have what looks like a single screen but will actually comprise two or three separate screens within a single bezel. This is the real deal.
What it means is that, while you have the driver instruments behind the wheel as usual, you can also bleed information across the entire width and at one point I had a navigation map spanning the full 27 inches. That proved a bit much while driving, to be honest, but I'm sure there are more practical uses.
One I didn't try is the new ability to run streaming services such as Disney+, Netflix and Prime Video, which combined with the Dolby Atmos sound system and acoustic glazing all round I'm sure makes it a pretty outstanding experience. Possibly better than many people's home set-up. The quality of audio while playing music is definitely a match for anything else out there.
The touchscreen is actually so huge that operating it with prods of the finger while driving becomes impractical; I had to lean forwards and stretch to reach the far left edge. Fortunately Genesis still provides a rotary dial — finished in crystal, no less — and that proved a superior way to control the infotainment, I found.
Genesis also has had the good sense to keep the climate controls physical and separate from the touchscreen, with single-touch buttons for things like the heated steering wheel, radio and navigation all easily within reach. All of which you'd think is common sense, but that's a quality that seems to be missing from a few interior designers these days.
Other good things include the nappa leather throughout, and the quality of the stitching, buttons, dials and so on. But it's not all good news. The front seats might look sumptuous and feature massage programmes, but after a while my bum did begin to feel a little sore and, for taller drivers, the ergonomics aren't ideal. The backrest didn't support my long spine in the right places despite much fiddling and fettling. At 6ft 4in I also felt like I was sitting up a bit too high in the car, and needed to move the seat further forward than I'd have liked, to prevent having to hunch towards the wheel, which meant my legs were cramped. If your driver is the orangutan from Cannonball Run II then this won't be an issue.
On the plus side, the rear is a lovely place to be, where the quilted seats are far more accommodating and you get more time to appreciate the sheer quality of the materials around you. Add the optional second row pack and you also get electric window blinds and power closing doors.
Also good is that Genesis is one of a number of carmakers now making it easier to silence the mandated speed sign recognition system, which often gets it wrong — you can do so by holding down the volume button on the steering wheel for a few seconds.
Which is good news because this is not a slow car. It has 365bhp on tap and, more significantly for instant response, 516 lb ft of torque (twisting force); for context, that's the same as a diesel-powered Audi SQ5 … except the Genesis delivers it all from zero revs, so it feels even more gutsy. That results in a 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds, despite the car tipping the scales at nearly two and a half tonnes.
I tried the Electrified G80 in chauffeur mode, which reduces accelerator response (supposedly for a smoother ride), normal mode and sport mode and, in the last this becomes a car that feels a lot smaller and lighter than it really is; you can throw it into corners with wild abandon and it retains the creamy ride but feels more responsive, stable and locked to the road. That's largely thanks to torque vectoring, which brakes the inside wheels to help the car pivot around an apex, but our test car also had rear-wheel steering fitted to it.
What we have here, then, is a luxury saloon that easily competes in terms of performance, dynamics, quality and price with the best from Germany but, like Lexus, still represents the alternative choice. A car for people who deliberately want to be a bit different. The Samsung to Mercedes' iPhone. And owning the Korean Mercedes is no bad thing … until Alan Partridge gets his hands on one.