SAN FRANCISCO — Genesis held a "Tech Brief" on the 20th at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, spotlighting the technology behind the GV90, an ultra-large flagship electric sport utility vehicle. With major media from South Korea, North America and Europe in attendance, the researchers and engineers who led the GV90's development explained how its core technologies were created. Manfred Harrer, president and head of Hyundai Motor Group's (005380.KS) R&D division, said the project "was not simply about developing a new SUV," describing it as "a process of questioning things we had taken for granted and asking ourselves what luxury means for Genesis."
Heo Kwang-hoon, executive vice president in charge of Genesis development, called the GV90 "the hardest car Genesis has ever built," saying, "We redesigned everything from scratch, and the result is the most special car in Genesis history." Genesis newly developed the GV90's platform, battery, power system and body structure, along with its infotainment system and even the plant that will produce it. "True luxury is not completed simply by adding more features," Heo said. "We focused development on achieving the level of refinement befitting a flagship, based on the core value of putting customers first."
An Se-jin, executive vice president of the Genesis Project 2 Office, said the GV90 was built on four development philosophies: an "Effortless" experience that removes even familiar inconveniences, putting customer safety first, solid fundamental performance, and a moving private lounge. "The luxury Genesis defines is removing even the moments customers did not recognize as inconvenient," An said. "Through these technologies, we sought to fill every moment customers spend with the vehicle with a special experience."
Drawing the greatest interest at the world premiere was the coach-door structure of the GV90 Neolun, called the "Neolun Arch Gate." Developed as a world first, it lets the front and rear doors open and close separately without a B-pillar fixed to the body. The B-pillar, which connects a vehicle's roof and floor, is a key structural element that withstands side-impact loads and resists twisting of the body. Removing it inevitably weakens the body's rigidity.
Genesis solved this by moving the B-pillar into the doors and adding a structure inside the body that reinterprets the principle of a race car's roll cage. Lee Dae-hee, head of the Genesis Body Design Office, stressed that "the GV90 model with conventional swing doors also has body rigidity superior to that of rivals, but the GV90 Neolun secured rigidity 12% higher still," adding, "We did not sacrifice safety to gain openness."
Lee Seung-mok, executive vice president of the Integrated Safety Development Office, explained a roof airbag technology that covers the roof glass in a rollover. Rollover crashes occur infrequently but are known to carry the highest risk of serious injury. "When a vehicle rolls over, the proportion of occupants ejected through the sunroof reaches 31.6%," Lee said. "When the GV90 detects that the vehicle is rolling over while driving, it deploys rapidly from the rear of the vehicle and covers the entire vision roof without gaps."
For driving performance and stability, the GV90 applies an e-LSD (electronic limited-slip differential) — long regarded as the preserve of high-performance cars — to both the front and rear axles, and is fitted with monotube dual-valve electronically controlled shock absorbers that independently control the compression and rebound of the suspension. Jung Sung-gi, head of the Genesis Test 1 Office, said that "providing composed, relaxed driving without any disruption on any road surface or in any situation is what Genesis considers true luxury."
The GV90 is produced at the Ulsan EV plant, newly completed this year. Jung Jae-heon, head of the Genesis Production Engineering Office, said, "We brought together here all the manufacturing know-how that Hyundai Motor Group has accumulated at plants around the world," adding, "We sought to deliver the level of refinement a craftsman shapes by hand equally to every customer on the mass-production line."
In the press process that forms the body panels, the company installed a 6,800-ton servo press and panel-inspection equipment to realize flowing curves inspired by the moon jar. In the body process, it applied four new joining methods that bond different materials, such as aluminum and steel, part by part to firmly connect a body with a greatly increased share of aluminum. In the painting process, it introduced an automated inspection system that detects minute surface flaws at six times the level of human eyesight, along with a custom paint booth that applies the single color a customer wants. In the assembly process, it verified quietness by recreating the actual driving environment inside the plant — driving the vehicle on rollers that reproduce road bumps and generating winds of up to 160 kilometers per hour.
