Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik Add Jalopnik on Google: Google Discover It's nearly impossible to make a big SUV stand out in a crowd. Even the best ones all sort of do the same thing. But with the 2028 GV90 Neolun, Genesis has done the impossible and captured the attention of the world. One of the full-size SUV's most showstopping aspects are undoubtedly the coach doors, which are like nothing else we've seen before, and that's why they've got a name that we've never seen before. Calling them doors simply wouldn't do. No, sir. These massive things are the Neolun Arch Gate, and you will refer to them as such. While coach doors (or unalive doors, shoutout to industry colleague and buddy Chris Rosales for that one) are nothing new, pulling off independently opening and closing doors with a hidden B-pillar is truly a feat of engineering that could only be accomplished by a company that isn't afraid to swing for the fences and crank a dinger every once in a while. Before you go yelling about your old pickup truck or the Honda Element, stop right there, because the Neolun Arch Gate is in a different league. Unlike those vehicles, which required you to open the front door in order to open the half-size rear door, the GV90 Neolun's massive rear doors can be opened completely independently of the front, and if I were 5% dumber I'd assume this was accomplished through magic. Full Disclosure: Genesis flew me out to San Francisco, California, put me up in a very nice hotel and fed me, all so I could check out the 2028 GV90 and GV90 Neolun. The Door Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik Because I'm about to breathe with my mouth closed, I kind of understand how the Neolun Arch Gate works, and it's fascinating. For the most part, the front doors operate fairly conventionally, though they do open at a nearly 90-degree angle, and the seatbelts are connected to the front seats, rather than the B-pillar. It also has a little button on it that allows occupants to swivel the two front seats 180 degrees so you can better hang out with the folks behind you. The real magic comes with the fairly gargantuan rear doors, which weigh in at about 154 pounds each. Luckily, all four doors are motorized. The first thing the door does is pop out from the rear and slide back a couple of inches to clear the back edge of the front door. It looks a bit minivan sliding door–ish for a moment, but rather than continuing alongside towards the rear of the GV90 Neolun, the door instead swings open like a Rolls-Royce–style coach door, again at almost 90 degrees. The whole process only takes a few seconds and, believe me, it's very dramatic. The closing process is the same but reversed, with the front edge of the back door tucking in first before the back edge is pulled flush. Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik While the doors were designed to be opened independently, undoubtedly the coolest thing to see is both doors opening at once, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the GV90 Neolun. It's hard to imagine a larger opening for a vehicle, save a convertible. Make sure a door like this is airtight isn't exactly an easy task, either, and that's why Genesis added three layers of sealing and weather-proofing to the Neolun Arch Gate. That helps keep weather out in addition to road and wind noise. After all, this is a big, luxury EV. It needs to be as quiet as possible. The Engineering Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik While the doors themselves are very impressive, the engineering could be even more so. When the idea for a door system like this was first being conjured, Luc Donckerwolke, Hyundai Motor Group's President and Chief Creative Officer, went to the company's chairman and laid out the idea. During a roundtable with journalists, he described what was a "dark cloud" over the design team's head, because the chairman said that the idea could only come to fruition if it was "safer than a car with a B-pillar." I suppose that's a fair request, but it's certainly a tough one. "Suddenly we were facing an issue of how to take something away from the structure of the car and make it safer [...] There were so many issues to making it work," Donckerwolke said. Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik These challenges may explain why there is some truly beefy engineering found in the Neolun's gaping doorsills. The most notable, of course, are the massive rear Dual-Motion Hinges, which a spokesperson for the company said are both robust and "aesthetically pleasing." They're right, too. If you're someone who appreciates mechanics, this thing is beautiful. It makes sense why the hinges were purposely designed to catch the eye when the rear doors are opened. Contained within that massive hinge are dozens of ball bearings that ensure a smooth operating procedure. It's all very neat and somewhat mirrored by the hinge that opens and closes the motorized charge door (above), which is also gorgeous. There are other signs that safety and rigidity were paramount here, as well. The rear doors themselves carry a massive hunk of hidden B-pillar, and there are some latch and pin mechanisms in view along the top-center of the Neolun's door opening. They're fairly well integrated, but I wouldn't be too shocked if they prove to be something people clonk their heads into every once in a while. Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik Probably the least aesthetically pleasing element of the door opening are the two latches that sit on the SUV's sill plate. I cannot imagine the internal fights that happened around those two things or how annoyed the designers were that no one could figure out a better way to integrate them. They unfortunately don't look that nice, but are a very small price to pay for an otherwise fantastic package. And just check out how long the door sill is. There are more hidden safety features under the skin to up the GV90 Neolun's rigidity, including a couple of high-strength dual steel beams integrated into the doors. Genesis says the architecture that joins the doors and body is meant to disperse the force of a collision. Then there's the hidden roll cage, made from "a frame 1.5 times thicker than conventional vehicles" that uses integrated high-strength steel tubes and structural foam. Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik All of this combines to give the GV90 Neolun the highest-in-class body stiffness, according to Genesis, so I suppose the chairman's wishes were granted, and I think we're all the better for it. I mean, just look at the thing. There's nothing else on the road like the GV90 Neolun, and so much of that is down to the Neolun Arch Gate. Now, it's time to get down to business and give everything in the HMG portfolio one of these systems. I, for one, will not rest until a Hyundai Kona Neolun is sitting in my driveway.
+41 others
