I test drove £65k Hyundai Genesis GV60 electric car and the interior may surprise you

BRITAIN doesn’t have a brilliant history of welcoming incoming foreigners.

We cold-shouldered right-hand-drive Cadillacs when they arrived in the 2000s.

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The posh Nissan brand Infiniti got shunned in the 2010s. Both soon went away.

Mind you posh Toyota brand Lexus has had a better reception.

Which must be the target for posh Hyundai brand Genesis.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with the electric GV60 itself.

Its body is smoothly rounded, like pebbles you collect on the beach to decorate your bathroom.

But interesting wheels and double-stripe lights make it distinctive.

The chief designer used to work at Bentley.

So the cabin is full of jewellery resembling cut-glass decanters, knurled metalwork, tooled leather, switches in the form of globes and belt-buckles.

The screens, electronics and driver assist features are as advanced as anyone else’s.

But the interface is easier to fathom than most.

OK, so when you touch some of this ‘metalwork’ it turns out to be plastic, but even so it’s a great place to be.

And surprisingly roomy.

The electric drive system is related to Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6.

Both of them are doing well in Britain.

Most notably, it has the capacity to suck up charge super-quickly if you find the fastest public chargers.

Hyundai says it’ll replenish 225 miles-worth of juice in as little as 18 minutes.

It can also push energy back out.

So you can power your house in a blackout, run a camp kitchen, or rescue another electric car that’s gone flat.

The version we tested has motors at the front and back.

That gives it the traction to catapult away from the lights and out of corners without chirping the tyres.

You have 435 horsepower. But press the steering wheel’s boost button and it peaks at 490 horsepower for ten seconds.

The difference between seriously quick and a little bit silly.

The GV60 really doesn’t need to be that fast.

Because while it has firm, well-controlled suspension and swift steering, it’s not actually huge fun to drive.

I’d say enjoy the silence, and stick with the lower power versions, which start at £47k and have the longest range.

That’s officially 321 miles (say 270 real-world). The high-power twin-motor version is rated at 289 miles – probably 240 real-world.

Genesis don’t have dealers. They bring you a demo car, and if you like it, just order online. They also collect it at service time and give you a loaner.

This convenience is part of Genesis’s appeal. So is the design and tech of the car itself.

But be aware the top-spec GV60 is up against some strong rivals including the fine-driving Jaguar I-Pace and easy-charging Tesla Model Y.

So you’d need to be open-minded to a newcomer.

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