Redesigned Genesis G80 for 2021

I confess that it took me a long time before I took Korean automobiles seriously.  I spent most of a year in South Korea in the early 1960s while in the Army.  In those days, the country was economically somewhat isolated and had done little more than patching up Korean War damage.

This is a photo I took from Seoul's main railway station.  The cars are Japanese-made, the busses are Korean bodies placed on army truck chassis' -- and I am not sure about the hopsung vans' basis.

Early Korean imports to the USA were not impressive, but Kia and Hyundai rental cars I've driven in recent years have been satisfactory.  (My personal cars over the last 15 years have been a Chrysler 300 and three Toyota RAV4s.)

A large leap for the Korean industry, following the footsteps of Toyota's Lexus brand, is Hyundai's Genesis.  The subject of this post is the redesigned for 2021 Genesis G80 luxury sedan.

Gallery

The 2017 Genesis G80.  The Wikipedia entry above credits its design to Peter Schreyer, at the time director of Hyundai styling.

Here is the 2021 Genesis G80, Luc Donckerwolke given overall styling credit.  Wheelbase and length are almost exactly the same as those of the 2017 car, but the body appears to be entirely new.

Side view of the 2017 G80.

2021 G80.  In profile, the new G80 is less boxy than the previous model.  The shoulder height character line falls slightly to the rear from a point near the cowl.   Side sculpting is mercifully simple, as should befit an upscale sedan.  The most interesting details are the double-bar lights seen at the front, abaft of the front wheel opening, and at the rear.  These are highly distinctive and help to unite the design.  Very clever.

The rear of the '17 G80 is fairly conventional in a bland way.

The redesigned rear is very nice.  The roofline is fastback right up to the aft spoiler.  I am not sure about that supplemental short horizontal character line on the rear fender.  In a way it's too close to the main character line, but it does tie to the taillight assembly.

Dramatic view of the front quarter showing those running lights.  Donckerwolke and his team did a very good job at the front.

But the rear is even better in today's context of fussy styling clichés.  Aside from the exhaust pipe area, the rear design is comprised of a concave oval-shaped area contrasted by angular taillight assemblies overlapping the sides.  Simple, distinctive, nice.
One casualty of the redesign is the short-span bird-wing emblem seen on the 2017 Genesis.

Rogues Gallery of Busy Grilles and Front Ends

I've been hammering away for a while now about the current fashion for overly decorated designs.  I think an important reason for this fad or fashion is government fuel efficiency regulations that have driven engineers and stylists to wind tunnels in the pursuit of high aerodynamic efficiency.  The result is car bodies with nearly identical basic shapes, and this has led to the use of excessive ornamentation and aerodynamically irrelevant body surface sculpting as means to establish brand and model identification.

Another -- probably lesser -- reason is the normal pendulum swing from one extreme to another that is common where fashion is concerned.

This post presents examples of overly-busy looking grilles and front end ensembles on American cars of the 1950s, an era noted for extravagant styling themes.  Then recent and current examples are shown, illustrating that we now seem to be in a period even more extreme than the '50s.

The 1950s images are of cars for sale.  The others are manufacturers' publicity photos.

Gallery

1950s American Examples

1950 Buick
Classic overstatement that was toned down for the next model year.

1952 Packard 400 Patrician
This is a modernized version of the traditional Packard grille intended to better blend with post- World War 2 styling trends.  The sculpting is rather Rococo, but the overly decorated part is the "teeth" that thankfully disappeared on the 1953 facelift.

1958 Buick
If the decorations on the face of the hood were eliminated, the design would be a lot more coherent.

1959 DeSoto
A three-level grille-bumper ensemble, each level having a separate theme.

1959 Dodge
This design approaches the confusion seen in some of the recent images below.


Current and Recent Examples

2015 Nissan Juke
A small car with intentionally funky styling.

2016 Nassan Maxima
The Nissan badge and its chrome nest serve as brand-wide identification.

2017 Lexus IS
Variously termed as "hourglass," "spindle," and (by me) "back-to-back Lexus Ls, this has been a Lexus theme for several years now.  And, as seen farther below, Toyota seems to be adding it to its mass-market brand.

2017 Renault Mégane sedan
That enduring, yet somewhat inexplicable Moebius-diamond symbol reinforces an already somewhat cluttered design.

2018 Audi A8
Audi pioneered the theme of draping the grille over the front bumper.

2018 Genesis
Count the textures on the face of this Genesis by Hyundai.

2018 Honda Accord
This car has some interesting sculpting, but it gets carried a little too far on the front end.  The sweeping element atop the grille and its details do not relate well to what is below.

2018 Hyundai Sonata
This design is cleaner than most shown here.  But the faddish fake air intakes flanking the grille add to the clutter.

2018 Infiniti Q50
An odd, droopy look to the front.

2018 Toyota Camry
As mentioned above, Toyota's mainline American sedan is now getting a Lexus-like frontal design.  The hood face, the faux air intakes flanking the actual grille and the dark, two-level apparent grille segment do not work well together.