Category Archives: CONCEPT CARS

CONCEPT CARS

Genesis Marks 10 Years With the G90 Wingback Concept—A Velvet-Gloved Warning Shot

For a brand that didn’t exist before 2015, Genesis is moving with the swagger of a company that’s been building luxury cars for generations. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Korean marque didn’t just throw a party—it rolled out a manifesto. Alongside the production-ready GV60 Magma, Genesis pulled the sheet off the G90 Wingback Concept, a low-slung, long-roof grand tourer that signals where the brand’s Magma performance subline is headed next.

And if you ask Genesis Chief Creative Officer Luc Donckerwolke, the G90 Wingback is much more than a design study. It’s the connective tissue between the company’s emerging Magma lineup and its ultra-bespoke One of One program. That alone should make legacy brands sweat; Genesis is doing in a decade what took others half a century.

A Familiar Flagship, Reimagined for Performance

Built on the unmodified G90 platform—with its 3.2-meter wheelbase and stately 5.1-meter overall length—the Wingback Concept stretches the familiar into something far more provocative. Genesis retains the Crest Grille, Parabolic Line, and unmistakable Two-Line lighting signature, but the volume knob is turned way up.

The front end wears a more sculpted bumper stamped with the Magma insignia, flanked by canards and gaping lower intakes that look ready to inhale entire weather systems. Flared arches push the stance outward, housing bespoke 22-inch wheels wrapped in low-profile rubber.

In profile, that Parabolic Line flows into a stretched roofline that trades the G90 sedan’s conservative decklid for a long, sloping grand tourer wagon silhouette. Out back, the tailgate is framed by two spoilers and anchored by a motorsport-style diffuser—Genesis signaling that performance and luxury need not be mutually exclusive.

This one doesn’t rely on the brand’s signature Magma Orange, either. Instead, the deep green finish offers a quieter but more confident presence, underscoring Donckerwolke’s repeated refrain: “Magma is much more than a color.” For Genesis, Magma is a philosophy—a blend of Korean restraint, balance, and ambition. “Magma does not shout; it invites,” he says. That’s not something you often hear in a segment obsessed with shock value.

A Cabin Where Performance and Luxury Share the Same Air

Inside, the Wingback Concept stays firmly rooted in Genesis’ comfort-first ethos while threading in Magma’s performance DNA. The quilted Chamude upholstery (a suede-like synthetic) gets subtle green Magma stitching along the seats, doors, dash, and steering wheel. Embroidered Magma logos on the aggressively bolstered seats quietly hint at power waiting beneath the surface—an appropriate metaphor given the name.

Even without powertrain details, the message is clear: Magma is Genesis’ answer to the AMG/M Division/Black Series world, but reframed through a lens of elegance rather than aggression.

The Future: No Typology Monoculture

Donckerwolke used the concept reveal to take a swipe at the SUV arms race currently consuming the industry. With SUVs everywhere, he argues, the pendulum will swing back. “This is when other typologies of cars are going to become attractive again,” he says, warning against a “monoculture” of sameness.

Genesis seems determined to lead that shift. The Wingback Concept won’t live alone—it previews a Magma expansion spanning sports cars, coupes, convertibles, and more. All are intended to embody what Donckerwolke describes as an “iron fist in a velvet glove.” Power and control cloaked in elegance.

More Than a Showpiece

The G90 Wingback Concept isn’t just a tenth-anniversary celebration. It’s a thesis. Ten years in, Genesis is no longer content to prove it belongs in the luxury space. Now it wants to redefine what luxury performance looks like—emotionally resonant, globally ambitious, and unmistakably Korean.

If this is the next chapter of Genesis’ story, the rest of the industry should pay attention. The Wingback isn’t shouting. But it’s definitely not whispering, either.

Source: Genesis

CONCEPT CARS

Citroën ELO Concept First Look: The Tiny House That Wants to Reinvent the Minivan

Citroën has never been shy about zigging where others zag, and with the unveiling of its new ELO concept, the French brand is doubling down on its century-old habit of rethinking what a car should be. Following the wonderfully oddball OLI from 2022, ELO represents Citroën’s next big leap—a rolling laboratory of ideas built to anticipate how we’ll move, work, and live in the near future.

And if Citroën has anything to say about it, the future is compact, cheerful, electric, and unexpectedly spacious.

A Minivan for the New Electric Age

The ELO measures just 4.10 meters long—city-car territory—but inside, it opens up like a modernist studio apartment on wheels. Electric-only packaging gives designers the freedom to push wheels outward, flatten floors, and stretch volume in ways combustion cars simply couldn’t. The result is a “little one that thinks big”: a machine that wants to be your commuter pod, weekend camper, mobile office, and six-seat family shuttle—all at once.

Citroën calls it a “tiny house on wheels,” and for once, the marketing doesn’t feel exaggerated.

REST. PLAY. WORK. Repeat.

Inside the ELO, the usual car/interior distinction dissolves. It’s less cockpit, more living room. Seats slide, fold, rotate, and vanish in ways that make current minivans look downright rigid.

  • Everyday setup: four seats, with the driver sitting centrally—McLaren F1 style—for maximum forward visibility under a panoramic 180-degree windshield.
  • Conversation mode: the driver’s seat swivels around to face the rear passengers, turning the cabin into a rolling lounge.
  • People-mover mode: two additional seats unfold from hidden compartments, expanding capacity to six.
  • Adventure mode: the entire interior converts into a sleeping space for two—think micro camper van without the bulk.
  • Entertainment mode: the cabin transforms into a home-cinema setup, reinforced with onboard power solutions.

It’s modularity pushed to the point of playfulness, and in a market where every interior is starting to feel like a tablet with seats, that’s refreshingly human.

The Cheerful Personality Missing in EVs Today

Where many electric concepts lean into sterile minimalism, the ELO embraces “joie de vivre.” Bright colors, expressive surfaces, and a kind of toy-like friendliness define the exterior. Citroën wants this thing to feel accessible and optimistic—a counterpoint to the cold futurism dominating the EV landscape.

This isn’t a car that takes itself too seriously. And that’s a good thing.

Co-Created with the Outdoors Experts

To build ELO, Citroën tapped partners who understand real-world lifestyles:

  • Decathlon contributed expertise from its outdoor gear team, helping inspire functional, durable, sustainable interior materials and clever onboard storage.
  • Goodyear developed new “smart” outdoor-ready tires capable of adapting to the car’s varied use cases—urban commuting one moment, dirt-track detours the next.

The result is a concept that feels grounded rather than purely theoretical. You can imagine using this thing tomorrow, not in some distant utopian cityscape.

A Signal of Where Citroën Wants to Go

Xavier Chardon, Citroën’s brand chief, frames ELO as a thesis statement: bold, accessible, responsible, and designed around well-being rather than horsepower arms races. The company is entering Formula E, refreshing its lineup at high speed, and clearly wants to reassert itself as Europe’s friendly disruptor.

Design boss Pierre Leclercq puts it bluntly: design must combine style and function—and ELO is the purest expression of that philosophy. Citroën’s designers had “fun,” and it shows.

So What Exactly Is ELO?

A hint at the next Berlingo? A preview of a future city camper? Or simply a manifesto for how Citroën believes electric packaging should be used?

Maybe ELO is all of these. But most importantly, it’s a reminder of something the industry sometimes forgets: cars can be clever. They can be playful. They can make life easier instead of more complicated.

Whether ELO becomes a production model or stays a showpiece, Citroën’s message is clear: the future of mobility isn’t just about range and charging speeds. It’s about giving people back their time, space, and freedom.

And if that future looks anything like ELO, it might actually be fun.

Source: Stellantis

CONCEPT CARS

Lexus LFA Concept: The V10’s Ghost Haunts Lexus’s Bold Leap Into the Electric Unknown

For more than a decade, the Lexus LFA has lived in a sacred corner of the car world—a limited-run V10 masterpiece whose wail could send shivers through carbon fiber. So when rumors began swirling about a new LFA, enthusiasts expected a familiar formula: a Lexus-flavored take on Toyota’s latest GR GT supercar, likely with a fire-breathing internal-combustion engine.

Instead, Lexus dropped a shockwave.

The new LFA Concept, unveiled in Japan alongside Toyota’s twin-turbo V8 GR GT, isn’t the next evolution of the iconic V10 halo car. It’s something far stranger—and far bolder. The LFA name now adorns an all-electric performance flagship, one Lexus says represents the technologies engineers should “preserve and pass on to the next generation.”

That’s philosophical language for a supercar with zero published specs.

A Silent Successor

Here’s what we know: Lexus isn’t ready to talk numbers. No kilowatts, no battery capacity, no performance estimates. The brand’s tight-lipped approach leaves us speculating about everything from motor count to horsepower. But Lexus seems fully aware that, no matter how potent the output, nothing it builds can replicate the original LFA’s F1-inspired shriek. Even Toyota’s new V8 can’t scratch that itch.

What makes this whole situation even more intriguing is the architecture beneath the sculpted shell. The LFA Concept rides on the same aluminum platform underpinning the GR GT and GT3 race car. Lexus almost certainly had the option to slot in Toyota’s new twin-turbo V8, yet deliberately didn’t. In a market where electric supercars struggle to find traction—and where enthusiasts still crave cylinders—this is a contrarian move.

Design First, Answers Later

While the powertrain is a mystery, the sheetmetal isn’t. The LFA Concept is gorgeous. It’s lower, sharper, and more cohesive than many EV sports concepts we’ve seen recently. Lexus clearly intends the LFA successor to stand apart from Toyota’s version, and nowhere is that clearer than the cabin. Unlike the Toyota’s more traditional cockpit, the LFA Concept interior embraces futurism—clean surfaces, minimalist interfaces, and the kind of conceptual flair you expect at an auto show, not at a dealership.

Production Bound—Eventually

Lexus isn’t playing coy about the bigger picture, though. This concept is not a design exercise destined for storage. Lexus openly acknowledges that the car is headed for production, and the renaming of last year’s “Lexus Sport Concept” to “LFA Concept” all but confirms it will wear the legendary badge when it arrives.

What Lexus won’t say is when. But given Toyota’s GR GT is expected around 2027, the LFA’s road-ready debut should follow a similar timeline—perhaps a bit later as Lexus fine-tunes the tech it hopes will define its electric future.

The Legacy Question

Will an EV ever fill the emotional void left by the original LFA’s V10—the sound, the rawness, the sense of mechanical magic? Probably not. But Lexus isn’t trying to recreate history. It’s redefining what an LFA can be, even if that means stepping into territory supercar buyers haven’t fully embraced yet.

It’s a risk. It’s unexpected. And it might just be the kind of disruptive thinking that made the first LFA legendary.

Source: Lexus