Genesis pick-up truck imagined

Could a Genesis pick-up truck succeed where the Mercedes-Benz X-Class failed?

That’s the question being asked by Calvin Kim, who came up with this eye-catching design for a luxury ute based around Genesis’ ‘athletic elegance’ design language.

With its Genesis G70-inspired twin-slit headlights and a stylised take on the brand’s big and bold crest grille, the Genesis ute has a modern look up front.

However, the flared trapezoidal wheel-arches, monster truck wheels and jacked ride height inject a healthy dose of toughness into the design.

It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to see the new Hyundai and Kia ladder-frame chassis – currently being developed for these two brands’ new one-tonne utes and large off-road SUVs – to find its way underneath a Genesis in future.

There’s always a chance Genesis could mimic the car-based Hyundai Santa Cruz ute as well.

The way ute prices are going these days, customers are readily shelling out $80,000, $90,000 and $100,000-plus for bigger, better utes – the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 a case in point at $113,990 plus on-road costs.

But in light of the Nissan Navara-based Mercedes-Benz X-Class, billed as the world’s first luxury ute but axed three years into its lifecycle, it would take a brave multinational car-maker to invest in such a risky project.

When contacted about a potential pick-up truck, Genesis declined to comment.

Yet if this flight of fancy did come about, and followed in the footsteps of the upcoming Hyundai ute due to debut in 2023, it would almost certainly leverage the potent six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine from the Genesis GV80 SUV.

That inline six-cylinder oil-burner has plenty of gristle (204kW/588Nm) and Hyundai’s head of R&D (and former BMW M division chief) Albert Biermann has already stated the engine could be used on commercial vehicles, under which utes are categorised.

“This engine … we can have so many applications. We make also commercial vehicles and so on, so this engine will be out there for quite some time,” he said.

Do you think Genesis would be well-served by introducing a ute or pick-up truck? Have your say in the comments below.