According to the Canadian pre-order website for the forthcoming Genesis G70, the brand's compact luxury sedan will be offered with a manual transmission in a back-to-basics rear-wheel drive trim.
[Update: Genesis Canada has confirmed that we will see a MT G70]
That's a nice surprise when most stickshift-related headlines these days have to do with yet another car dropping a manual transmission option due to a lack of demand.
That said, by limiting the stick to a single RWD model, it seems clear Genesis expects a specific type of G70 buyer to be interested in rowing gears themselves.
As its name suggests, that trim will be the only RWD G70 variant: you won't be able to get the stick in any of the five AWD models, nor will Genesis sell you a rear-driver with the automatic. The Sport RWD will seemingly cater to a small cadre of driving enthusiasts who value the pure driving feel unique to cars in which the front wheels aren't asked to contribute to forward motion.
That's not where the G70 Sport's driver-centric mentality ends, either. This will be the only G70 model without active safety features like forward collision avoidance and lane keep assists and blind spot warning, items that are standard across the balance of the range.
The G70 2.0T will use a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine making 249 hp (251 in Sport trim) and 260 lb-ft of torque. The power upgrade comes in the form of a 3.3L turbo V6 good for 365 hp and 376 lb-ft, and the automatic transmission is an eight-speed.
Genesis says it will start delivering the G70 to customers in the spring. We've reached out to the company to ask what the car's pricing will look like.
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