Genesis Nova: A Coupe-Like MPV That Stretches the Brand’s Design Horizon
By Team Dailyrevs June 18, 2025
Genesis Nova: A Coupe-Like MPV That Stretches the Brand’s Design Horizon
Genesis has built its reputation on elegant restraint—clean lighting signatures, sculpted volumes, and a poised sense of proportion. When Alejandro Rodríguez, a design student, partnered with Genesis Design Europe during his master’s program, he set out not just to echo the brand’s language, but to apply it somewhere unexpected: the MPV.
The result is Genesis Nova, a luxury multi-purpose vehicle with coupé-inspired styling. But calling it an MPV doesn’t quite do it justice. This is a vehicle designed as a moving lounge—one that values shared space, seamless technology, and architectural form.
Full Gallery Feautring Renderings and Design Sketch ideation of Genesis Nova Concept can be found below this article.
Design Inspired by Celestial Phenomena
The name Nova comes from the astronomical event—a star that suddenly glows bright before fading away. That poetic concept quietly informs the design. The silhouette is smooth and continuous, almost like it’s been shaped by airflow over time.
There’s no visual clutter here—just flowing metal, glass, and light. The panoramic roof, with its observatory-inspired geometry, splits the cabin in a way that feels both futuristic and calming. The rear is particularly sculptural, built around elliptical waves that soften the vehicle’s mass without losing precision.
A Concept That Feels Right at Home in the Genesis Family
Despite being a student project, Nova looks and feels like a Genesis. That’s no accident. Alejandro worked directly with Genesis Europe’s design team and received real-time feedback as the concept evolved.
The signature Genesis design cues are all present and thoughtfully reinterpreted: the V-shaped light signature, the clean front fascia with minimal openings, and turbine-style wheels that complement the car’s elegant stance. It respects the visual rhythm the brand is known for—without ever feeling derivative.
There’s a clear lineage here, even when parked next to the aggressive and performance-focused Genesis X Gran Berlinetta. One is sculpted for speed; the other for serenity.
2023 Genesis X Gran Berlinetta VGT Concept
An Interior That Prioritizes Space and Stillness
Inside, Genesis Nova is less car and more architecture. The layout is open and inviting, designed for four passengers in a space that encourages interaction. All seats swivel 180 degrees, and a hidden console in the rear slides out only when needed, keeping the floor space clean and adaptable.
Technology is present but subtle. There’s facial recognition for personalization, haptic controls for minimal distraction, and the Crystal Sphere—a Genesis icon—sitting proudly at the center of the experience. Rather than showcasing tech as a centerpiece, Alejandro treats it like ambient infrastructure. You feel it, not just see it.
A Fresh Take on Premium Utility
Alejandro’s interpretation of the MPV isn’t about reclaiming lost practicality or retrofitting luxury. It’s about redefining what mobility can feel like in a shared format. Genesis Nova isn’t a family hauler—it’s a modern lounge with wheels, designed to make the journey as valuable as the destination.
Where Genesis’s performance concepts lean into power and visual dynamism, Nova leans into atmosphere and grace. Two extremes, same design language.
A Quiet Nod to the Other Genesis
The name Genesis might now be synonymous with Korea’s rising luxury brand, but in the design world, it carries a more obscure legacy. Back in 1988, Bertone revealed the Genesis concept, a radically unconventional MPV powered by a Lamborghini Countach-sourced V12 engine. Though not developed in collaboration with Lamborghini, the use of its iconic 5.2L V12 gave the concept an unexpected dose of supercar drama.
Despite its aggressive exterior and exotic drivetrain, the Bertone Genesis’s interior told a different story. Plush lounge-like seating, swiveling front chairs, and soft, sweeping surfaces offered a vision of mobility centered on comfort and interaction. It was a van that didn’t just carry people—it made space for them to engage.
Alejandro Rodríguez’s Genesis Nova mirrors that ambition in a thoroughly contemporary form. While Nova trades the V12 for silence and flow, it preserves the same core idea: that a multi-passenger vehicle doesn’t have to surrender style or emotion. Both projects, separated by nearly four decades, approach the MPV as a canvas for storytelling—where comfort, form, and imagination come first.
Genesis Nova Is a Student Project with Real-World Relevance
What makes Genesis Nova resonate is how convincingly it fits into Genesis’s portfolio—without ever being proposed as a production car. Alejandro Rodríguez has shown that the design language can scale, bend, and evolve into new forms without losing its character.
Nova may be a student project, but it feels grounded. The proportions work. The interior story is coherent. And the emotional tone—somewhere between confidence and calm—is exactly what modern luxury needs more of.
