As Genesis X Gran Berlinetta VGT first unveiled at the 2023 Gran Turismo World finals in Barcelona, Spain on December 2, Tony Chen, Exterior Manager of Genesis Design North America, felt excited and honored while witnessing the historical moment.
Genesis X Gran Berlinetta VGT, an extreme concept car that continues to stretch and expand the young brand’s bold design language, is a Vision GT car, and therefore commissioned especially for use in Gran Turismo 7. However according to Genesis’ North American design team, it firmly establishes design cues that’ll be seen on future production cars.
“In the beginning of this project, we were heavily inspired by cars from the 60s specifically Grand Touring Cars,” Tony Chen, Exterior Manager of Genesis Design North America, was quoted by the CAR MAGAZINE published in the United Kingdom online.
“These vehicles really accentuate a long dash to axle distance, and that means the cabin is really pushing and really accentuating power from the front. It’s then swept back where you have a really long hood,” Chen said.
‘The vehicle is really reduced in frontal mass, so it cuts through the air very efficiently. You’ll see in the shoulder [what] we call this the parabolic gesture. And this also is seen amongst our production line-up, where the line or the volume starts up high and then drops,” Chen was quoted as saying.
According to the magazine, inside, the X Gran Berlinetta VGT is a hybrid of race car and luxury saloon, so although you can see the shape of the monocoque, it’s all padded with neat diamond-stitching. Like the brand’s production cars, the concept uses fine, almost jewelry-like details in its switchgear – once again adding to the luxurious feel. To keep the gaming theme going, Genesis’ interior designers have taken inspiration for the steering wheel from the PlayStation’s iconic controller.
‘The crest grille, the two lines, the parabolic gesture – these are all kind of resonating in the line-up today and will be further enhanced in the future,” Chen was quoted by the magazine.
“So once we develop this kind of design strategy, the team really has their own take on how to cook with those ingredients: that’s what you see [in the concept] and what you’ll see in trickling future production vehicles,” Chen was quoted as saying.
Genesis X Gran Berlinetta VGT is designed by Genesis Design North America with Tony Chen as the Exterior Manager.
The first car designed by Chen and his team is Genesis GV80, which became more popular after Tiger Woods survived in an accident while driving the car.
Champion golfer Tiger Woods was injured in a single-vehicle accident in California in February, 2021. Woods was in LA hosting the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.
Genesis’ first SUV, GV80, and second SUV, GV70, have recorded cumulative sales of 173,882 and 160,965 vehicles, respectively, across the globe. In the United States, the brand has achieved over 225,000 cumulative sales as of August 2023.
“It was a huge honor for me to be able to represent Genesis and speak on behalf of the whole design team globally that put together the GV80,” said Chen when the SUV was manufactured in 2020.
