Enlarge / This concept points the way to a future Genesis flagship SUV. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

NEW YORK—You can always rely on Genesis to bring at least one interesting concept to the New York International Auto Show. This year, the company brought several. At a busy reveal at the brand’s Genesis House in Manhattan, it showed us its high-performance ambitions with not one but four bright orange machines, plus one rather famous Belgian racing driver. Then, in a chamber reminiscent of The Barmacide Feast, we got to see the poshest Genesis yet, the brand’s take on a big luxury electric vehicle inspired by Korean hospitality.

The Neolum Concept

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  The Genesis Neolum has the looks to hold its own next to any Range Rover or Bentley Bentayga. [credit:
  Jonathan Gitlin ]

Genesis was tight-lipped in the lead-up to Monday night’s unveilings, but no one was entirely surprised to see a big electric SUV. Genesis is owned by Hyundai Group, after all, and has access to the E-GMP architecture, a thoroughly up-to-date flexible platform that keeps impressing us. Kia just used E-GMP to great effect to make the EV9, a three-row family SUV. And Hyundai’s take on that form factor is due later this year in the production Ioniq 7, so an upmarket model from Genesis seemed obvious.

“The last eight years, it was about finding who we are and then discovering DNA for the Genesis,” said SangYup Lee, global design head for Genesis. “Now it’s time to expand.”