Genesis, the premium car manufacturer most people have probably never heard of, is a member of the extended Hyundai family. It allows the firm to sell luxury motor cars without having to battle against in the inevitable badge snobbery, in the same way that Lexus does for Toyota.

Here I’ll be looking at the electrified GV70 (combustion-engined models are also available). It’s a luxurious (obviously) high-riding SUV but, whichever power source you opt for, it’s competing against some seriously capable opponents so it’s got its work cut out.

Hyundai also promise to expand on the company’s core values when you buy a Genesis by offering a more personalised service with a “Genesis Assistant” at your disposal, rather than just one of those run-of-the-mill salespeople, who will look after the mundane things such as having your car collected for its service.

Let’s take a look at how it stacks up against its rivals.

Ease yourself into the driver’s seat and it’s a doddle to get comfortable behind the leather-bound wheel. There’s lots of (electrically-assisted) adjustment in both seat and steering wheel. Lumbar support – adjustable – is standard too.

Tick the Comfort Seat pack option box and you’ll snag yourself a massaging driver’s seat that includes a bespoke programme to improve your posture during longer drives. I can’t confirm whether it achieves that specific goal but it does feel good when it kicks (not literally) in.

Front seat passengers enjoy a generous amount of head and legroom. The front passenger seat gets electric height adjustment, including height, as standard, but the Comfort Seat package is required to add adjustable lumbar support.

There’s a reasonable amount of storage space, with a good-sized glovebox, large door bins, cup holders and a roomy cubby under the centre armrest. There’s also a lidded tray area – with wireless charging – for your mobile.

Headroom is a little more limited in the rear and, while legroom is decent, there’s not a great deal of space below front seats for passengers to slide their feet under. The rear seats recline, but can’t be shifted fore and aft.

Refinement is excellent, and if the standard package isn’t good enough – there’s very little noise from the electric motor and the standard acoustic windscreen and laminated side windows do a commendable job of suppressing wind noise – then you can tick the Second Row Comfort Pack option box and add laminated glass for the rear windows.

Throw in the Lexicon sound system upgrade and you’ll get active noise cancelling technology which does a very good job of silencing invasive tyre roar from coarse road surfaces.

Boot capacity is 503 litres (that’s 37 litres less than the ICE-powered version) with the 60/40 split-folding rear seats in place and 1,678 litres with them stowed away. That figure is, strangely, 68 litres more than the ICE-powered versions.

Handily, you can fold the back seats down using handles located just inside the boot rather than on the seats themselves. There’s also a useful 25 litres of storage space under the bonnet to accommodate the charging cables

Another useful addition is a 250v socket that will allow you to power anything from irons to toasters, kettles to food mixers.

There’s no lip to lift loads over and, while there is some underfloor storage, it’s really only big enough to stow the disappointingly cheap-looking tonneau cover in.

Overall interior quality is good, with soft-touch surfaces covering all the places you’re likely to come into contact with during a day’s driving and even some you won’t, such as the bottom of the doors.

Ergonomics are excellent. All the controls are within easy reach and, hooray with a couple of hip hips to boot, adjusting the cabin temperature is simple thanks to the inclusion of chunky analogue controls.

The commanding driving position affords you a good view across the expansive bonnet even though the top of the dashboard is quite high. The slim front pillars mean that forward visibility is excellent. The view out of the sides and back is also good, aided by additional windows set in what would otherwise be chunky rear pillars.

Should you feel it’s needed, you can opt for the (quite pricey) Innovation Pack that adds a blind-spot monitoring system.

Front and rear parking sensors, and rear-view camera, are standard. If the Electrified GV70 had sleeves then this nifty little trick would be up one of them: To help you see the kerbs in the door mirrors the reversing lights project lines onto the ground at the rear of the car.

LED headlights are standard and that (still quite pricey) Innovation Pack I touched on earlier adds matrix lights that adjust the shape of their beam to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers while still providing as much illumination as possible.

The standard instrument binnacle mixes analogue dials with digital displays but the Innovation Pack swaps that for a 12.3in digital cluster with 3D visuals that look pretty but contribute very little to the overall experience. You can, if they’re not to your taste, turn them off. What is useful is the head-up display that comes with the pack, displaying information such as your speed and traffic warns right in your line of sight.

The 14.5in touchscreen dominates the centre of the dashboard. It’s so big, and mounted so high, that it can be a bit of stretch to operate it on the go. There is, thankfully, a rotary controller between the front seats perilously close to the gear selector and it proved worryingly easy to confuse one for t’ other.

The menu layout isn’t the most intuitive, but it doesn’t take long to become acclimatised. There are few physical shortcut buttons which, if you like a clutter-free cabin will delight you. I, though, would prefer a few more just to make life a little easier while driving.

Programming the sat-nav can be fiddly while you’re on the move but, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto included, there’s very little need to interact with the built-in system.

There is some fun to be found behind the wheel of the EV’d G70. That’s largely down to the pulverising acceleration delivered by the dual electric motors.

There is, under normal circumstances, 429bhp at the disposal of your right foot but a quick press of the Boost button on the steering wheel ups the ante significantly, delivering a lofty 483bhp which is enough to send the G70 to 62mph from a standing start in just 4.2 seconds.

Power delivery is instantaneous, visceral and incredibly addictive. Put your foot down at any speed and you’ll find yourself firmly pinned back in your seat. It really does inspire confidence when you’re exiting a junction, overtaking or merging onto a busy motorway.

Official range is 283 miles (or 276 with the optional 20in wheels fitted) but you’re unlikely – as is the case with all EVs – to match that figure, with real-world driving likely to deliver closer to the 230-mile mark.

The suspension is on the soft side, even if you switch the adaptive suspension to Sport mode, so there’s a noticeable amount of body lean through corners and, as a consequence, trying to hustle the GV70 through the tight and twisties brings scant reward.

However, ease off a little and you’ll quickly get to grips with the precise, linear steering and excellent levels of grip, allowing you to make reasonably rapid progress. Less haste, more speed, so to speak. Power delivery is biased towards the rear axle and you do get a sense of the car pivoting around a bend and placing the front end exactly where you want it.

The Electrified GV70 is not without its shortcomings: The range could be better, it’s quite pricey and the boot could be more generous. However, it is outrageously quick and, for a slab-sided SUV, fun to drive, refinement is excellent and the cabin space plush, comfortable and well put together.

Genesis GV70 Electrified

Price (from): £65,105

Motor: Twin PMS electric

Battery: 77.4kWh

Transmission: Single speed

Max power: 490PS

Max torque: 516lbft

0-60mph: 4.2sec

Max speed:

Max range (WLTP): 283 miles

Charging time (10-80%): 18min (rapid charger required)

For more information click here.