Genesis teases new G70 Shooting Brake, here Q3

GENESIS has wasted no time in diversifying its line-up with the premium Hyundai brand releasing the first images of its upcoming G70 Shooting Brake at the weekend via its global Instagram account.

Confirmed by Hyundai Motor Company Australia (HMCA) to be arriving Down Under in the third quarter of this year, the Shooting Brake will almost certainly share the same turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder and twin-turbocharged 3.3-litre V6 petrol engines earmarked for the sedan, which is due to touch down next month.

Developing 185kW/353Nm and 272kW/510Nm respectively, the mills are both lifted directly from the Kia Stinger and transplanted into the upmarket Genesis package along with the same eight-speed automatic transmission.

When wagon does arrive, it will wade straight into battle against the BMW 3 Series Touring, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate and Audi A4 Avant with plenty of work being done to ensure the Korean upstart is as competitive as possible in the local market.

“Genesis already has a camouflaged pre-production G70 Shooting Brake in the country for evaluation/engineering purposes,” HMCA public relations, sponsorship and events senior manager Guido Schenken told GoAuto.

Unsurprisingly the Shooting Brake flaunts almost all of the sedan’s key styling elements with even the five-spoke alloy wheel design being the same.

The wagon does look to have a few key visual cues of its own though – discounting the obvious wagon body shape – with the most prominent being its unique rear lighting signature courtesy of some tailgate-mounted brake lights.

Whereas the sedan’s bootlid is completely free of lights of any kind, the Shooting Brake flaunts a small set of tail-lights complementing the familiar quad arrangement as seen on all new model Genesis’.

A prominent roof spoiler meanwhile adds an extra sense of muscularity and helps break up the lines of the sloping rear end.

In terms of any potential sales splits between the sedan and wagon, Mr Schenken said it was too early to say and that such predictions – along with the local pricing and specifications – would be discussed closer to the Shooting Brake’s local launch.

For reference’s sake, Mercedes-Benz says the sedan versions of its C-Class have outsold the Estates at a ratio of around 20:1 over the past 12 months while BMW says its 330i sedan has outsold the Touring at a ratio of around 10:1 so far this year ending April.

With the new G70 due in local showrooms from next month, the current version has been a mild seller in the $60,000-plus medium car segment with the 29 examples sold so far this year ending April equating to a 0.7 per cent market share.

Despite the lacklustre sales compared to the C-Class (1394/32.3%) and 3 Series (1203/27.8%), the G70 is actually up four units on the 25 examples shifted over the same period last year.