G70

Make
Genesis
Segment
Sedan

When we drove the 2018 Maserati Ghibli, we praised it for its Luxury Zegna Package, which uses premium silk inserts on its seats. These silk seats feature both heating and ventilation and are less affected by heat and cold than traditional leather seats. Franky, we aren't big fans of leather seats and we wish more automakers would experiment with other upscale materials. One automaker that we spoke to at Detroit strongly agreed with this stance. During our interview with Genesis Executive Brand Director, Erwin Raphael, we discussed the lack of options for seat materials in luxury cars and the potential for something new.

"We've got all kinds of cool ideas in the pipeline," said Raphael. "We are really stretching our brains in terms of appearance. We don't need to be like anyone else. I spent a lot of time with the designers, in particular, the color and trim team and 'you should see some of the stuff - it's like holy cow!' It's not only exterior colors but interior materials as well. Materials you would never think of as being in a car."

What could Genesis be planning for its future seat materials? Looking around the industry, Maserati offers silk, Land Rover offers wool on the Range Rover Velar, and Volvo has a unique plaid vinyl weave.

Raphael told us to "think about any type of material in a car or not, anywhere on the planet, and we're looking at those things. Things you would naturally think as a possibility and things - I assure you - you would never be able to fathom. The materials, the way they feel, the way they look, the colors, the textures, all kinds of stuff."

Genesis has already impressed us with the diamond-stitched leather on the G70 but this tease from Raphael has us even more excited to sit our butts down in a Genesis product.