Genesis Aims Its Stunning Magma GT Concept Directly At Porsche's Heart

Unlike its high-performance SUV sibling, the Magma GT looks like it features internal-combustion power, and its slinky, mid-engined proportions help the company plant a flag in the supercar space and give cars like the Porsche 911 Turbo and Mercedes-AMG GT a South Korean rival for the first time – as well as preview the company's efforts to enter GT-class racing.

A Spiritual Flagship For The Next 10 Years
Genesis says the Magma GT concept is intended to serve as a halo design for its cars into the next decade, defining "the direction of the brand's performance heritage for the next 10 years." The supercar is more than a mere study, however. Although Genesis didn't cop to specific powertrain details – not even theoretically – the Magma GT looks remarkably close to production-ready, with lighting elements, bumpers, and even side-view mirrors that wouldn't look out of place on a showroom floor.

The design itself is undeniably pretty, starting with a low, rounded front end that features the Genesis-signature pair of headlights, bookending the company's wing logo in the middle. The front air intake loses the shield shape found in most of the company's products, but there's still some "G-Matrix" mesh peeking through the opening. Gorgeously peaked fenders flow into smooth doors, and despite the Magma GT's clearly mid-engined proportions, it retains the downward-arching body contours that are common to cars like the G80 sedan and GV70 small crossover. The subtly rounded character line on the door punctuates just ahead of the rear fenders, which kick up over the wheels before leading into a drooping, Kamm-style tail.

There's yet more G-Matrix grille mesh on the rear scuttle, all but proving the concept is meant to have internal-combustion power, and the two-lines taillight motif looks appropriately updated for the supercar, with an illuminated wordmark showing up in the middle. The Magma GT's passenger cabin has a clear teardrop shape when viewed from above, giving the car a dynamic stance while also improving aerodynamics. The rear clamshell features an amusing smiley-face set of vents on the engine cover to help the undisclosed powertrain breathe, and the roof has a distinctive NACA-style opening for yet more ventilation. Ditto the Lotus-style fender-top intakes, which we hope feed air to a version of the hybrid V8 that the company is developing for racing use.

Genesis Surprises The World With A G90 Wingback Magma Concept Wagon
The long-roof, high-performance version of the flagship luxury sedan could see limited production.

What's Under The Hood Of The Magma GT?
In the forthcoming Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 hypercar that's bound for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, that twin-turbocharged powertrain will be limited by LMDh class rules to 671 horsepower. But in a production version of the Magma GT concept, that rating could easily exceed 800 horses, giving Genesis a bona fide rival to the aforementioned Porsche and Mercedes-AMG products, as well as the plug-in hybrid Lamborghini Temerario and Ferrari 296 GTB.

That amount of grunt would give just about anything some impressive performance, but in the doors-up photos of the Genesis supercar, one can all but just make out the presence of carbon fiber and other composite materials, meaning the Magma GT could also be relatively lightweight, even with a hybrid powertrain. Since the likewise-electrified 911 Turbo S has a curb weight of 3,800-plus pounds and the exotically produced Temerario weighs in at 3,729, the Genesis supercar could potentially become the welterweight of the class.

Of course, all of this is strictly speculative, as the automaker hasn't announced any performance details for the Magma GT concept. Genesis did say that the car features its "Effortless Performance" dynamic ethos, which prioritizes vehicle balance above unnecessarily overt aggression. And the car's mid-engined layout hints at Genesis Magma Racing's aspirations to hit the GT-car circuit – presumably IMSA and FIA GT3 – which would put it in contention on the track with the Ford Mustang GT3, Lamborghini Temerario GT3, and Porsche 992 GT3 R.