Genesis Embodies Its Home Country’s Culture Like No Other Automaker

As Korea’s only luxury automaker, Genesis is an important representative for the country from which it hails and the culture that courses through its veins.

The brand Genesis has only been around for 10 years, but it has already gone through a massive cultural shift, just like South Korea. A decade ago, there was a tangible corporate shame among Korean automakers about their heritage, something many “outsiders” can almost too painfully relate to. Up until recently, Westernization and Western values were the norm that everyone simply accepted as aspirational, but there’s been a seismic shift over the past decade that is finally allowing the country to embrace its uniqueness.

Today, showcasing Korea to the world has become a guiding philosophy for Genesis. The brand has leaned into its heritage in a way it never has before, which also reflects the growing sense of pride Koreans have in their culture. Now a major contributor to the global zeitgeist, Korea is experiencing a renaissance — and Genesis is a jewel in that crown.

“What I discovered in Korea is such a high sense of aesthetics and well-orchestrated elements when you talk about art, design, and energy,” Luc Donckerwolke, Chief Creative Officer of Genesis parent company Hyundai Motor Group, said during a roundtable discussion after the 2025 Seoul Mobility Show.

That sense of aesthetics and how those elements relate to each other is an essential part of the DNA of Genesis.

Korean design philosophy is rooted in a few core principles: harmony with nature, simplicity, balance, practicality, and respect for traditions.

Genesis designers’ reverence for simplicity and balance is palpable on its most recent concept cars, the Genesis X Gran Coupe and Gran Convertible. The show cars hint at an aspiration to move into ultra-luxury territory and have gorgeous, timelessly elegant proportions with clean lines that are in direct contrast to an opposing design ethos that “more is more.” For Genesis, nothing is something.

“Purity is the most successful form of design. You can see that the cars are absolutely pure and you don’t need more,” said Donckerwolke. “I’m adamant that good design is reduction … and concentration.”

While “reduction could be boring,” Donckerwolke warns, and minimalism gets a bad rap for being cold, the Korean design ethos of “beauty in white space” is rooted in warmth and hospitality. The latter is a defining characteristic of Korean culture, so it makes sense that Genesis has leaned so heavily into hospitality as a major pillar of its brand identity.

The flagship Genesis Suji experience centre in Korea, for example, is more than just a showroom. Customers are treated to a thoughtfully designed space where they participate in an elaborate personalized unveiling ceremony and handover service where they meet their new car for the first time.

The facility's soft, warm lighting perfectly highlights the vehicles inside and is inspired by Korean hanji — traditionally handcrafted paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree known for its strength, durability, and beauty. The exterior of the building was intentionally left to rust so that it changes with nature, and the layered texture of the building’s accents is inspired by the folds in traditional Korean hanbok garments.

But beyond being an aesthetic philosophy, leaning into its Korean heritage is also a smart business plan for the brand so it can cut through the noise to reach discerning luxury buyers.

“Globalization neutralized car design,” Donckerwolke said. “You had difficulty identifying if the car was coming from one continent or another.”

He notes that these conditions have made it increasingly difficult for automakers to stand out because they’re all making  “exaggerated efforts to differentiate themselves” by chasing trends. But we all know trends don’t last.

“In a world where everything is global and information goes so fast, those trends never stay, and that work never stays very unique,” Donckerwolke said. “The best possible way to differentiate yourself is to focus on the essence of your name, to create a DNA, and stay with it.”

For Genesis, that DNA is distinctly Korean, and by infusing it into everything it does, it allows the brand to respect the past, inform the present, and lay the groundwork for an exciting future.