{"id":135582,"date":"2019-04-16T19:30:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T23:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=135582"},"modified":"2019-04-17T15:40:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T19:40:18","slug":"genesis-goes-urban-with-mint-battery-car","status":"publish","type":"reviews","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/reviews\/genesis-goes-urban-with-mint-battery-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis Goes Urban With Mint Battery-Car"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Genesis Mint concept could hint at a high-end city car using the brand's upcoming battery platform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Genesis is plugging into this year\u2019s New York International Auto Show \u2013 quite literally, with the Mint, a battery-electric city car concept making its debut at a media preview.<\/p>\n

Targeting the likes of the now all-electric Smart fortwo, the two-seat Genesis Mint could be \u201cthe ideal city car (for) New York, suggested Manfred Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President and Global Head of the Genesis Brand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Auto Show News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether the luxury brand has specific plans to bring the Mint to market is uncertain, but company officials have confirmed they are working up a flexible battery-electric \u201carchitecture\u201d that will be used for an assortment of future all-electric vehicles, with the first likely due to market in about two to three years.<\/p>\n

(From minicars to $4m hypercars, <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to see what’s coming to the 2019 NY Auto Show.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>The Genesis Mint is definitely not a Smart clone. If anything, it looks like a downsized, albeit more up-market, take on the Hyundai Veloster, with an aggressively raked roofline and oversized tires. Quad lamps, front and back, as well as what Genesis calls a \u201cParabolic Line,\u201d are meant to give the Mint a more athletic appearance than the typical city car.<\/p>\n

Instead of a trunk, users got access to a rear parcel shelf by opening up scissor-style side openings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Genesis Mint Concept takes a very different approach to urban car design from current products like the Smart fortwo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like other second-generation battery-electric vehicles, the two-seater rides on a skateboard-like platform that contains batteries and motors, freeing up space normally taken by the engine compartment.<\/p>\n

That translates into a variety of places to store things around the cabin. Meanwhile, the interior features an unusual, oblong steering wheel that contains a video screen that replaces the conventional gauge cluster. Six additional, copper-framed graphic screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mint Concept is a new urban icon that marries classic proportions with forward-looking, minimalist design,\u201d said Luc Donckerwolke, the global design chief for parent Hyundai Motor Group. \u201cThe Mint Concept instantly finds purpose and meaning in the city, just as so many people who call the world\u2019s most densely populated metropolises home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genesis isn\u2019t releasing much information about the Mint\u2019s drivetrain beyond saying that the little city car would have 200 miles range and could be quickly topped off again using the newest 350 kilowatt Level 3 fast chargers.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for a review of the Genesis G90.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hyundai\u2019s spin-off luxury brand has made it a regular occasion to bring concept vehicles to the NYIAS, gaining plenty of attention with the Essentia supercar prototype it revealed at the Jacob Javits Convention Center a year ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Mint concept has a larger interior than expected and scissor doors would access its rear cargo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether the Genesis Mint would actually go into production is uncertain, said Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst with IHS Market, but it \u201cgives them a chance to telegraph that they\u2019ll be in the electric vehicle market, and (it lets Genesis) explore a new design language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other analysts, Brinley says it\u2019s far more important for Genesis to focus its immediate attention on the utility vehicle segment that is rapidly displacing demand for conventional luxury passenger cars. The shift is one of the reasons why Genesis sales tumbled by more than half from the 20,594 vehicles it sold in the U.S. in 2017 to just 10,312 last year \u2013 and even then with the addition of the well-reviewed G70 sport sedan.<\/p>\n

What could be coming to showrooms next is believed to be an SUV based on the GV80 concept that was unveiled in New York two years ago. It\u2019s expected to be in the brand\u2019s new standalone showrooms in time for the 2021 model-year.<\/p>\n

The first Genesis battery-electric models aren\u2019t expected to start rolling out for at least another year or two beyond that.<\/p>\n

(Infiniti wants to change the way cars are designed with its Qs Inspiration Concept. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for more.<\/em>)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is this the ultimate city car for the Big Apple? Genesis is debuting its Mint electric city car at the 2019 NY Auto Show. What does it reveal about the automaker’s future product plans? TheDetroitBureau.com has the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135731,"menu_order":0,"template":"","tags":[],"category_reviews":[15,26,19,31,30],"make":[36,61,105],"post-state":[],"category_old":[149,150,151,205,123,160,133,319,142,155,156,231,163,132,275,161,139,148,214,128,291,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reviews\/135582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reviews"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reviews"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135582"},{"taxonomy":"category_reviews","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_reviews?post=135582"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=135582"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=135582"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=135582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}