I drove the Genesis Electrified G80 – it’s a brilliant EV from Korea that’s good enough to worry Tesla and Mercedes

THERE’S A good chance you think this article is going to be about a British rock band.

In fact, it’s about a car from South Korea, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing what this particular Genesis is.

GENESIS

The Genesis Electrified G80 starts from just under £66,000[/caption]

The car manufacturer Genesis was only founded in 2015 and until recently didn’t officially sell cars in Britain.

However, it’s here now and wants to take on the mighty German brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

They’ve been busy too, having already launched a range of cars that includes saloons, estates and SUVs, plus a fully electric car.

This is Genesis’ second EV, the Electrified G80 saloon.

You can have a G80 with a petrol engine, which rivals cars like the Audi A6, BMW 5 series or Mercedes E-Class.

But being fully electric, the Electrified G80 is taking on premium EVs like the Tesla Model S and Mercedes EQE.

And it does a great job; the G80 is a hugely comfortable car to drive and is extremely quiet at all speeds.

With twin motors producing 370hp the G80 can sprint to 60mph in less than five seconds if you want it to, but will also cruise with the best of them – even if a Model S feels more agile in the corners.

Both the Tesla and Mercedes have more wow-factor inside, but the G80’s more traditional interior is still a lovely place to sit and rivals the German brands for outright quality.

If you love tech you’ll prefer the huge screens in a Model S or EQE but the G80’s widescreen system and digital dials still feel suitably modern and work brilliantly.

There’s room for two adults to stretch out in the back of the G80 too, although its boot is on the small side next to the rest.

Other reasons to have a G80 over the competition? It undercuts an EQE and Model S on price by some margin, starting at £65,000.

That’s hardly cheap, but most will be company cars and it’s about £10k less than the Merc and a whopping £30k less than the Tesla.

Tesla and Mercedes don’t throw in a free concierge service, either.

With no dealerships in the UK, a lovely person from Genesis will come to your house and take your car away for anything it needs, leaving a replacement behind for you to use.

A Model S and EQE go further on a full charge, but the G80’s official 320-mile range is more than enough for most people.

The G80 also charges more quickly – with the right public charger it’ll go from 10-80% in just 21 minutes. If you can find the charger that is.

Ultimately Genesis isn’t pretending that it’ll waltz in and steal huge market share from the established players in the UK.

But if you like the way this Electrified G80 looks and don’t care for badge snobbery, there are plenty of very good reasons to choose it.

GENESIS

It’s relaxing to drive and will officially go 320 miles on a full charge[/caption]

GENESIS

It’s interior is more traditional than a Tesla’s but is very high quality nonetheless[/caption]

GENESIS

With the right public charger, the G80 will go from a 10-80% charge in just 21 minutes[/caption]