Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury sub-brand, caught everyone off guard last month by revealing a mid-engine supercar concept called the Magma GT. Even more surprising, the automaker confirmed this car is headed for production, which could happen as soon as next year, if the road car’s debut coincides with Hyundai’s plans to race in the GT3 category.
While I’m arguably more excited by the G90 wagon concept Genesis also showed off that day, I will admit seeing a new, ground-up supercar from any brand right now fills my heart with joy.
Going by this latest Autocar interview with creative director Luc Donckerwolke, it sounds like Hyundai will be taking a strategy from one of the most successful sports cars of all time to give the Magma GT the widest appeal possible.
Ah, Yes, The Porsche 911 Approach
By “strategy,” I mean Genesis will sell the Magma GT in a bunch of different trims, similar to what Porsche does with its iconic 911 sports car. From the Autocar article:
The GT will be the only Genesis vehicle that is offered purely as a hot Magma model from the firm’s new performance line and Donckerwolke said the version shown so far is “the base model”.
“We will add S, GTS, roadster, lightweight, club sport, a GT3 road car, a GT3 R for track use,” he said.
“It’s a complete life cycle of products to offer different possibilities to customers that will combine performance and luxury inside.”
By my count, Porsche offers no fewer than 20 different trims of 911, from base coupes to top-of-the-line Turbo Cabriolets, to three different types of track-focused GT3 models. This approach has proven incredibly lucrative for Porsche, effectively allowing it to amortize the cost of several different cars into one vehicle that it can produce on the same production line, sharing many of the same parts while appealing to a vast clientele.
Genesis taking a similar approach makes sense, then, if it wants to entice as many buyers as possible. Whether this strategy will actually work is an entirely different story.
This Has Been Attempted Before
Genesis is not the first automaker to try something like this, of course. Mercedes with its AMG GT, Aston Martin with the Vantage, and even Audi, to a degree, with the R8, have all tried to steal market share from the 911 by offering lots of different trim levels. Did you know there are at least 18 different models of Jaguar F-Type?
All of these cars have used the Porsche 911 to varying degrees of success. I’d argue Chevy, with its five different types of Corvette, is the only company right now that maintains a similar model line structure that actually makes sense.
While at least some of the cars mentioned above were very much 911 fighters, neither Donckerwolke nor the greater Hyundai group sees the Porsche as a true rival to the Magma GT.
While the decision to offer a full line of Magma GT variants will draw comparison with the 911, Donckerwolke said it took inspiration from “clever life-cycle management” but wasn’t conceived as a direct rival: “Our design and engineering will be completely different and applying the Genesis recipe of refinement and athletic performance will give it special positioning.”
Hyundai Motor Group tech chief Manfred Harrer, who previously worked at Porsche on the 911, added: “We cannot go up against such an icon. We have to find our own way.”
Ultimately, it’ll be price that determines whether the Magma GT and the Porsche 911 are cross-shopped. If the V8 powertrain in the concept makes it to production, it’ll probably end up on the more expensive end of the 911 comparison spectrum, while also being stacked against cars like the Corvette ZR1, McLaren Artura, the Ferrari 296, and the upcoming Aston Martin Valhalla.
Being a Hyundai at heart, it’s possible the Magma GT, at least in base form, could undercut all of those cars on price, which would be pretty cool. I’m all for more affordable supercars, even if “affordable” still means six figures.
Top graphic images: Genesis; Porsche
I’d argue the best non-Porsche implementation of this was Dodge with the Challenger and Charger. No, they didn’t have tons of body style variations, but they had something for you at every price point from sub-$30,000 to $110,000. No matter what you had to spend, there was a Charger or Challenger for you to buy.
EDIT: I’m not saying that the Charger and Challenger were to compete with the 911, but that Dodge manged to not leave a “price umbrella.” From the most basic V6 Charger to the Challenger Demon, there were an enormous number of trim levels to cover everything in between, to ensure they could capture more of a buyer’s money… and it paid off.
I don’t think anyone would ever confuse the two. I don’t hate what Genesis is doing, but even pretending that Porsche is on the same level is a complete joke and should be blatantly laughed at to their faces. Title should have read “Genesis claims they don’t want to complete with the 911 and then a lot of laughing emojis, not whatever world salad title this ended up with.
Will they do PTS and custom interior mods? Do we have to look forward to the Genesis guys hanging out at Cars and Coffee and discussing how each of them has spec’ed a “one of one” Magma? How do you say Sport Chrono in Korean?
Oh man that Magma GT is a looker!
Every time I here genesis I think hyundai. When I think hyundai and sports car, I think tiburon. Then I laugh a little. Pretty sure porsche and GM have nothing to worry about.
Just get a C8
“If the V8 powertrain in the concept makes it to production, it’ll probably end up on the more expensive end of the 911 comparison spectrum, while also being stacked against cars like the Corvette ZR1, McLaren Artura, the Ferrari 296, and the upcoming Aston Martin Valhalla.”
I don’t think any Porsche, McLaren, Ferrari, or Aston Martin buyers will be cross-shopping at a Hyundai dealership.
Did anyone else think the part in quotes (with the model lineup) was a joking analogy to Porsche’s lineup, only to read the article and realize they were literally doing all of it verbatim?
I love Porsche, but only when they’re old, cheap, and common enough that I don’t care about the original owner paying $5k for matching vent covers. 🙂
Side note. Every time I see the Corvette lineup I always gravitate to the base Stingray. It has the most palatable price and the performance of 0-60 in 2.9 seconds seems like way more that I could and should ever use on a road. Does that mean I’m cheap or sensible??
I don’t think anyone in the market for a car with a starting price of 70k could be called “cheap”. If you can afford to pay ~75k in cash or let’s say ~$1,000/month for the Stingray, a car that almost assuredly will be your second or third car, you could probably afford the E-Ray at ~$1,500/month or even the Z06 at ~$2,000/month.
At the point where you have a grand a month to light on fire for a vehicle as impractical as those, you can afford another few hundred bucks a month if you wanted to move up a bit (I did not include the ZR1 as that is not in the same league as the Stingray).
That said – yes, I’d take the Stingray even if I could afford the next two steps up. No one, including myself, would be taking a brand new ‘vette to the track and needing the Z06 in order to shave off another few seconds of your lap time. If that’s your goal, you’re going to be in a dedicated track car, not a mint Z06 fresh off a dealer lot.
The point of the Z06 is not pure acceleration (get the E Ray) but the sound and feel of taking a mid mounted V8 to 8600 RPM.
Only you can decide if that’s worth the extra $40-50K.
I wasn’t even thinking sound; I was thinking the sum of the other aero/suspension/brake upgrades meant to get you around the track slightly faster. But you are right, revving that baby would be a reward all on its own.
I looked at that Vette comparison, which was the first time in my life I’ve seen them all shown side-by-side, and all I could think was “Who WOULDN’T just buy the Stingray?” It’s almost like they didn’t de-tune it enough to make the others attractive.
Redundant. Cheap IS sensible.
“Ground-up supercar” sounds like one expensive burger.
Do I have something in my teeth?
Max Power! Great name.
Thanks! I got it from a hair dryer.
With the price of beef these days, maybe this comes out cheaper per pound?
I don’t know, I find this pretty hard to swallow.
Yep. Every single time I see “ground up” I can’t remember if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Don’t give Whistin’ Diesel any ideas.