After the 2016 model year, Hyundai is killing off its only rear-drive sports coupe. Sad!


The Genesis Coupe was cool for a few reasons. First, it was Hyundai’s first foray into the inexpensive rear-wheel-drive sports car segment. It was handsome, handled decently and had Brembo brakes and a good engine in the form of a 3.8-liter V6. And the R-Spec version only came with a stick.

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Hyundai released the Genesis Coupe with the hopes that it—with its 2.0-liter four-cylinder version in particular—would become the next great tuner car, but it never quite did that. Instead, people gravitated toward the Mustang, the Subaru BRZ, the Camaro and the Miata. Now add that to the potential nomenclature confusion with the new Genesis brand and I can start to see why Hyundai is pulling the plug.

This now leaves Hyundai without a sporty coupe offering, and everyone knows a lineup isn’t complete without one of those.

“A new, more sophisticated and luxurious coupe appropriate for the new Genesis brand is currently under development,” Christine Henley, Hyundai PR manager, told The Truth About Cars. There has been speculation that a replacement coupe could have a V8.


I have mixed feelings about this. The enthusiast in me says yes, yes more luxury sport coupes, please! but the practical and economically minded part of me asks do we actually need another one of those, especially from a new brand that Hyundai just created? Especially since the sport coupe market isn’t a moneymaker.

I’d dare to suggest that Hyundai keep the Genesis Coupe and really turn it into the legit Mustang/Camaro/BRZ-fighter it could have been. Or maybe even push the development of the Veloster more aggressively.


We have reached out to Hyundai for further comment.