2020.04.01 GENESIS
Eighteen Shades of G80
At least when it comes to luxury sedans, black is always right. The third-generation Genesis G80, however, comes with eighteen different shades. The color designer of G80 talks about stories behind each color herself.
The third-generation G80 is full of high-tech features and trending designs. It comes with eighteen body colors, not to mention innovative interior colors to match. Ryu Min-hee, Head Researcher in Genesis Color Team who designed all the G80s - from the first generation to the third - talks about the stories behind each shade.
Q. What would be G80’s unique strength compared to its competitors?
Firstly, it comes with eighteen shades, and this is just for body color options. And there are five more color options for the interior. Color is the first thing we see in a car, and color is one of the most powerful ways to express ourselves.
The leather element from the dashboard to the doors or the high-quality RealWood would be another catch of G80. It’s not that high-quality material is always an answer to everything. We poured our hearts into this model so that every design element blends in perfectly. Every member of every team all worked very hard.
Q. Owners of luxury sedans usually go with either black or white. Why did you make so many color options for G80?
It is not wrong to say that there always is a safe choice. But we don’t think black or white always becomes the right choice. We tried to create the right colors to suit Genesis the most. This is why we have eighteen different shades, and for Genesis we will create more innovative options for in the future.
Q. Among these so many choices, what would be the signature color for G80?
The main design theme of G80 would be ‘Athletic Elegance’, and Tasman Blue might be the right answer to that question. This color was inspired by an aurora. An aurora is caused when particles(mainly electrons and protons) from the sun collide with the atmosphere present in the Earth’s sky. These particles ‘precipitate’ into the upper atmosphere, making a beautiful light show that flows in the night sky. The deep shade of Tasman Blue represents the night sky, and the glowing pigments reflecting lights symbolize the aurora. I guess this would be the color that truly represents ‘Athletic Elegance’.
Q. Tell us about the other stories behind each body color. How do you create colors?
Each designer has his or her own way to create new colors. I usually get ideas from my own experiences. Of course we could just keep mixing colors until we get a good one, but I think our creation becomes more attractive when it contains a unique story. It could be related to something that I use every day, or it could be related to the place I have been to. I created Porto Red, for example, when I was in the city of Porto in Portugal. The place is very famous for Port wine, and I instantly thought of making a car shade using that crimson red color.
We named each body color after each certain place. We did this to express where each creation came from.
Q. It is pretty rare to see three different white shades for a single model. Could you tell us how they are different?
White is the most popular choice, no matter what car you buy. But for designers, it is hard to make different shades of white, unlike other colors like gray, blue, or red. This is why we wanted to try making various ‘whites’ for our customers. Uyuni White, obviously inspired by the Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia, has pearly white pigments in polished white paint. The new Verbier White was named after a superb Swiss alpine village, the town of Verbier. It looks very matte pearly white, just like a field covered in snow. Making color paint that looks matte and pearly at the same time was never an easy task, especially for car paint.
Q. The color choices for the interior look quite unique as well, especially for the blue shade, which automakers rarely pick for the interior.
It is true that most automakers use black or brown for the interior. So it may sound a little strange when we say Maroon Brown with Forest Blue is one of our interior color options. It does sound a little strange even for a color designer myself. But try to picture a man in a neat blue suit with classy brown shoes, and you would think that this guy looks quite chic. The character line on the dashboard and curvy lines on the doors remind us of the neat suit. The Maroon Brown/Forest Blue combination for G80 would make the styling.
G80 also uses Dark Gray for its other interior color options. This is not a usual choice for luxury sedans, but we matched it with Dune Beige or Vanilla Beige for G80’s unique and chic looks.
Q. Tell us about the Real Wood that you used for the G80 interior.
We put extra work, from the leather material of the seats and aluminum garnishes to the Real Glass of the rotary gear shift dial. The real wood used on the garnishes would be another example. Users can select between four different types of wood trim, including Olive Ash, Eucalyptus, and the newly released Ash Metallic Gradient and Ash Gradient. Speaking of these two newly released options, we mixed real wood material with metals for its unique looks, and also made the color gradient using different tones to make the long crash pad look more interesting.
Q. What was the hardest part while working on the color and material designing for G80?
Making various shades is hard. And mass-producing them is even harder. From the perspective of the manufacturer, the task gets harder and much more complicated every time we create each color option. We need to make the colors of the body frame and the rest of the compartments match, and this requires a lot of meetings and talks with other employees working in the factories.
Creating new colors is not enough for the color designers working for a car company. Handling the mass-production for quality management is also part of our job. Making the right clear coats, and programming the robots so that they could spray the paint perfectly, are also important. Genesis has been through a lot of considerations to do all this, and these top-notch paint shades for the third-generation G80 are the results.
Q. Eighteen body shades, five interior colors, and four Real Wood colors sound pretty hard for me to pick the right colors for my car. Any suggestions?
For the exterior, I would recommend Tasman Blue, or Verbier White with gorgeous matte white pearl shade. And for the interior, I would go with the Maroon Brown/Forest Blue two-tone option. Lastly, Ash Gradient for the Real Wood trim will be a lovely touch.
But personally, I love all the shades I created. I have been working for Genesis since day one, and this G80 is very meaningful to me because I’ve put a lot of thought into it. This is why this project became so special with eighteen different shades including very innovative colors. I wish you could also find G80 very special as I do, and enjoy this true luxury sedan through these so many colors.
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