Genesis might have been busy teasing the production GV60 Magma and unveiling a sexy mid-engine sports car aimed straight at Corvette territory, but the concept that really lit up the internet this week wasn’t either of those.

It was this: the G90 Wingback. Officially still a concept, and with no green light for production just yet, Genesis is clearly testing the waters, and seeing some promising ripples.

Could It Work?

Luc Donckerwolke recently told Motortrend that “I get feedback that high-power wagons are not that cool outside of Germany, but if you look at the success of competitors on the U.S. market, that tells me the opposite.”

There’s reason to believe he’s right. The sustained buzz around cars like the Audi RS6 and BMW M5 Touring suggests there’s space for something like this, even if the G90 Wingback operates in a more rarefied segment.

Read: Genesis Just Revealed Something That Could Finally Take On The Corvette

Think of it less as a rival to the RS6 and more as a hypothetical RS8 Avant or M7 Touring, neither of which actually exist. That’s because the G90 base is a proper full-size luxury sedan, stretching 5,205 mm (204.9 in) from nose to tail on a standard wheelbase.

How Close Is It?

Hyundai Australia

It’s not just hype driving the conversation either. The car itself isn’t all that far from realistic as it sits. Clearly, Genesis has already built one, and according to Donckerwolke, production wouldn’t be all that tough from a component standpoint.

The Wingback shares the same hardpoints such as the seats, the wheelbase, and the suspension mounts. “The cars are very executable very fast with a minimum level of advance investment,” Donckerwolke told the magazine.

Manfred Harrer, the performance brain inside Genesis R&D, confirms the engineers are already stiffening the G90 platform for a Magma variant of the sedan, and that directly enables the Wingback and X Gran Coupe.

“We are preparing this platform for high performance,” he says. “And we are really committed to these designs.”

Think better steering feel, more responsive damping, and a high-speed ride that’s hopefully composed and serene. Not track-rat harshness but instead grand touring refinement.

The Missing V8 Piece

The World Rally Championship–derived 3.2L twin-turbo V8 from the Genesis GMR-001 hypercar

All of this brings up the one big question still hanging over the Wingback: what would actually power it, if it ever makes production? The most potent G90 currently on offer delivers 409 horsepower (305 kW) and 405 lb-ft (549 Nm) of torque from a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6.

That’s not nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with the high-performance models from BMW, Audi, or Mercedes, all of which boast supercar-level power figures and the hardware to match.

To that end, there are whispers that Genesis is working on a new V8, one that could find its way into a future production version of the mid-engine supercar it also revealed in concept form at the same event, along with possible road-going versions of the stunning X Gran Coupe and Convertible studies.

If that engine makes it to production, the Wingback could quickly leap from a neat idea to a legitimate world-class bruiser.

The bean counters might shrug at the business case and quietly send it off to the great PowerPoint graveyard in the sky, but if Genesis builds it, we think the right people will care, and that might just be enough.

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