Genesis has reinvented the humble golf buggy as a quad-motor, open-sided and luxuriously appointed off-road cruiser.
Making its UK debut at the Genesis Scottish Open golf tournament over the weekend, the Box Buggy is the work of Genesis design chief Luc Donckerwolke and a small team of the Korean brand's designers.
It was first shown at the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, where it was used as a pit-lane shuttle for the Genesis Magma hypercar racing team. Now it has returned to its conceptual roots at the Renaissance Club in Scotland, where it put the humble golf buggies at the PGA Tour event into the shade, and not only for its tartan seats and central touchscreen.
The Box Buggy is packed full of technology, including four in-wheel electric motors producing around 40bhp apiece, as well as brake- and steer-by-wire systems and electronic dampers.
It also has the ability to turn its wheels 90deg – using rotating motors developed by sibling company Hyundai Mobis – so that it can shuffle sideways into parallel parking bays.
The Genesis design team took inspiration from the Brubaker Box, a 1970s limited-run custom buggy based on the Volkswagen Beetle.
The 'Box' name is not only a nod to that classic but also a play on the racing phrase 'box, box', instructing a driver to go to the pits.
There is no production intent for the Box Buggy; rather it's the latest in a series of wild concepts that push the boundaries for the Genesis brand beyond its current range of SUVs and saloons.
Genesis has recently revealed the Magma GT and GT3 supercars on the performance side, while the X Skorpio and X Gran Equator have shown its vision for a line of go-anywhere off-roaders.
