The 2026 GV70 is the latest Genesis to get a major price hike

I swear I didn't set out to write a series on this topic. It started innocently enough with my road test of the 2025 GV80 3.5T Prestige, during which I naturally got to wondering how the GV80 V6 compared to other six-cylinder midsize luxury SUVs.

Digging into the numbers, I was surprised to find that the cheapest 2025 GV80 V6 had an appreciably higher starting price than its six-pot rivals from Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. So I wrote a separate article about that, noting that the 2024 V6 model had been much more affordable and registering my confusion as to what Genesis may have been thinking.

I figured that would be the end of it, because surely this couldn't be a broader trend in the Genesis lineup, right? After all, the "Smartstream" 3.5-liter turbocharged V6 debuted six years ago and basically hasn't changed since, serving faithfully as a beefier alternative to the brand's entry-level 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbo ("2.5T"). There was no reason to think that this aging lump was about to get more expensive across the board.

But then I noticed that a similar fate had befallen the 2025 G80 3.5T midsize luxury sedan — and now, with the recent launch of the 2026 GV70, we've got ourselves a trifecta.

That's right: the 2026 GV70 3.5T is, like its V6-powered GV80 and G80 stablemates, suddenly a whole lot more expensive, such that its value advantage over six-cylinder rivals has vanished overnight.

I'm not sure what the argument for Genesis looks like without the value component, but when it comes to these V6-powered models, at least, Genesis dealers will be scrambling to figure that out.

Is the 2026 GV70 3.5T really more expensive than its European rivals?

Well, it's not quite in the GV80 3.5T's league in terms of blowing away the competition by costing thousands more than just about everything. But as you can see, it's not far off.

I will say that the data is less striking in the GV70 3.5T's case than it is with the G80 or GV80, mainly because there aren't as many direct six-cylinder rivals here. Mercedes, of course, made the highly dubious decision to convert the entire GLC lineup to four-cylinder power, so they're out of the game, while the Porsche Macan V6 ($74,500) is playing an altogether different game. As for the non-Europeans, Lexus doesn't offer a six-cylinder engine in the compact NX, and the ancient and uncompetitive Cadillac XT5 V6 is almost too sad to mention.

But the SQ5 and X3 M50 are really all I need to make my point, which is that the GV70 V6 is no longer even close to being a value play among performance-oriented small luxury SUVs.

First of all, yes, the outgoing version of the SQ5 is old, but it still packs Audi's delectable 3.0-liter turbocharged V6, which also happens to do duty as the Porsche Cayenne's base engine. Audi's been building world-class sporty SUVs since before Genesis existed, going back to the original SQ5 with its excellent supercharged V6. The fact that you can get a brand-new SQ5 for five grand less than the cheapest GV70 V6 is scarcely believable.

How about the next-generation SQ5, which, confusingly, will also be sold for the 2025 model year? It's been waiting in the wings for months, and we'll have to wait a while longer to drive one on real-world roads. But it's telling that even with a $6,400 price increase, this freshly redesigned model barely costs more than the Genesis does in its sixth year of production.

And the BMW? I still miss the previous-generation X3's styling, to be honest — I can't get used to the 2025 redesign, which seems to have taken too much inspiration from the funky iX EV and not enough from BMWs that actually look good.

But man, that M50 inline-6 powertrain is something else, which is a core reason why the new X3 is our top-ranked small luxury SUV. The 27-mpg combined fuel economy is downright incredible, occupying a different universe compared to the 21-mpg GV70 3.5T. And although the X3 M50 makes just 18 more horsepower than the Genesis and only weighs marginally less, you can bet it'll overdeliver on swiftness in that time-honored German fashion. BMW says it'll get to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, pipping Genesis's estimate for the GV70 3.5T by half a second, but I reckon the gap in third-party tests will be even wider, notwithstanding the BMW's massive 29-percent edge in efficiency.

There's really no way around it: the X3 M50's powertrain is vastly superior — not just to the GV70 3.5T's setup, I should add, but to just about every other six-cylinder powertrain in existence, too.

So how could the M50 only cost $385 more than its Genesis counterpart?

More to the point, how could Genesis let this happen? Just look at where GV70 3.5T pricing started last year for the pre-refresh model:

I mean, you could argue that it was already too expensive for the 2025 model year, given that the outgoing 2025 SQ5 undercut it by a few hundred bucks. But in what universe does it make sense to double down with a $4,615 bump for 2026? What in the actual what is going on here?

Why is the 2026 GV70 3.5T so much more expensive?

If you read my article on GV80 3.5T pricing, this will sound familiar. Like the 2025 GV80, the 2026 GV70 shed its base V6 trim from the previous year, which superficially accounts for the price hike. For 2025, the GV70 3.5T started with the Sport trim ($58,800), whereas the 2026 GV70 3.5T starts with the Sport Advanced trim ($63,415).

Interestingly, the 2025 GV70 3.5T Sport Advanced stickered at $65,200, or nearly two grand more than the 2026 iteration. Putting aside the loss of that base trim, can we at least say that the 2026 GV70 3.5T Sport Advanced is a better deal than its 2025 predecessor?

Not quite. I'm getting a bit into the weeds here, but the 2025 3.5T Sport Advanced came standard with 21-inch wheels, Nappa leather upholstery and an upgraded Lexicon audio system, whereas the 2026 3.5T Sport Advanced comes with 19-inch wheels and non-Nappa leather, although you do get a new Bang & Olufsen audio system. If you want the 21s and Nappa skins for 2026, you'll need to step up to the 3.5T Prestige, which will run you (gulp!) $70,095.

In other words, Genesis actually took content out of the 3.5T Sport Advanced trim for 2026, so while it is indeed $1,785 cheaper, it also lacks two signature items that were included last year.

By the way, the base 2025 GV70 3.5T Sport also came standard with 19-inch wheels and non-Nappa leather, matching the decontented 2026 3.5T Sport Advanced. That makes the latter look more like a 3.5T Sport by another name, albeit with an extra box checked for Bang & Olufsen sound.

Now, whether the B&O stereo is worth the extra $4k-plus is a matter for your ears to decide, but the bottom line is that the 2026 3.5T Sport Advanced is not a carryover trim package from last year — it's a lesser version. That's why I said the loss of the 3.5T Sport trim only superficially explains the price hike for 2026. It would be more accurate to say that the 3.5T Sport got a new name and a new stereo, and Genesis wants a $4,615 premium for it.

Really, the only significant advantage that the 2026 GV70 enjoys is the new 27-inch OLED infotainment screen, which is admittedly a beautiful piece of work. The same unit was in the 2025 GV80 that I drove, and it puts Genesis on the top shelf technology-wise, giving up nothing to the X3 M50 and easily beating the outgoing SQ5's aged interface.

But under the hood, the BMW and both Audis take the GV70 3.5T to the proverbial woodshed, and that's no knock against Genesis per se. The Germans have been doing this internal-combustion thing better than everyone else for decades. That's just the fact of the matter.

Now, this supremacy has evaporated in the EV realm, where powertrain engineering requires relatively little tradecraft. Pretty much anyone with an assembly line can crank out electric motors. Accordingly, I see no reason why Genesis shouldn't be charging Germanic prices for its EVs when that segment of the market stabilizes.

But the Hyundai empire's Smartstream 3.5T V6 is frankly no match for Germany's turbo sixes, and Genesis's pricing should reflect that. I remain dumbfounded as to why, across multiple models now, it doesn't.

MotorDonkey says

What makes the GV70 V6's price hike even weirder is that Genesis assembles this model right here in 'Murica, down at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) plant in Montgomery. The GV80 and G80 are manufactured in South Korea, so although their pricing was set well before Trump started toying with tariffs, you could at least connect a couple of dots and blame international trade for some percentage of the inflation there. But the GV70 is well ahead of Trump's game, whereas poor Audi is still making the SQ5 in Mexico.

So why is the Audi the one that's thousands cheaper? And why doesn't the GV70 3.5T dramatically undercut the South Carolina-made X3 M50?

I don't have the answers; I'm genuinely flummoxed. But charging this much for the V6-powered GV70 sure doesn't seem like a great way to grow the market share of the most popular Genesis model. ⛐ md