Hyundai, Kia and Genesis are certainly making headway with electrified models. One of those three Korean manufacturers may receive a strikingly self-styled electric model in the future. The Genesis Mint Concept from 2019 could just get a production version.
Kia has a good-scoring EV on the menu with the e-Niro, and later this year the brand – which also has an electric Soul on its shelf – is expanding its EV range with the EV6. In addition to the electric version of the Ioniq and Kona Electric, Hyundai will soon have the eccentric Ioniq 5 in the showrooms. Both Kia and Hyundai will expand in the coming years with numerous other EV and Ioniq models. Then there is Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis, a manufacturer not yet present in Europe that recently presented its first electric car: the Electrified G80. In the short term, Genesis will come with another new electric model, an EV6 and Ioniq 5-like that has already been caught in a camouflage suit. More Korean EV news? It could just be! It seems that the Mint Concept, presented in 2019 and very stubbornly designed, will be continued.
Genesis Mint Concept (2019)
The Genesis Mint that shone in New York two years ago was special in every way. The compact coupé-like study model not only had a cheeky face and a strikingly designed rear, but also striking ‘rear doors’. Behind the regular front doors were small hinged flaps that gave access to the luggage compartment behind the front seats. The Mint was in fact a two-seater. Genesis indicated at the time with its expressive Mint “[…] to reinvent the shape of a city car. “If and when the car would go into production, Genesis kept to itself. Techzle has surfaced in the database of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent plates that may indicate that the Mint Concept is not a one-time exercise.
The car on these grainy patent plates is clearly the Genesis Mint, although the proportions seem slightly different. This may have to do with the fact that cars on such patent drawings often have different shapes. Anyone who still has the Mint Concept in mind will see that the Mint in these drawings is not the same as the two-year-old concept car. On the front screens, cameras placed on sticks have been added, units that function as side mirrors and that were missing on the Mint Concept shown in 2019. There is also something striking about the registration itself. The patent drawings have been filed by Kia’s head office. Remarkable, because the Mint was a Genesis. In addition, patent plates pertaining to Genesis are normally filed by Hyundai at WIPO.
Whether that means that the Mint will be continued under the Kia banner? Who’s to say. Both Hyundai and Kia have not been averse to eccentric car design in recent years. Both brands will come up with various new EVs in the coming years and a compact model with an extravagant appearance would certainly fit in with that and Genesis could probably use such a car given the promised arrival in Europe.
Would you like a production version of the Mint Concept? Let us know in the comments!