A Striking, Swoopy Electric Car

Tesla may seize the headlines, but Hyundai Motor Group is the tranquil achiever in the race for domination of the EV mass marketplace in The usa. Thanks to properly-crafted, well-outfitted, and nicely-priced styles these kinds of as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kona Electrical, the Kia EV6 and Niro EV, and the recently introduced Genesis GV60, Hyundai Motor Team snared the No. 2 location in the U.S. electrical automobile market place earlier this year, in advance of Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen.

To be guaranteed, Hyundai Motor Team is nevertheless a lengthy, extended way behind Tesla in conditions of total EV product sales figures. But there is certainly no denying the company’s soaring ambition in the phase.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6, which goes on sale right here in the very first fifty percent of 2023, marks just one more step in a relentless march that will see Hyundai shell out $16 billion on launching a lot more than 30 EV models by 2030 as it targets electric vehicle product sales of 3 million automobiles a year.

But to start with, meet the Ioniq 6.

In easy terms, the Ioniq 6 is the output variation of the swoopy Prophecy thought unveiled in 2020. Less than the pores and skin is Hyundai Motor Group’s impressive E-GMP EV platform, which underpins both the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6 and functions the firm’s fast-charging 800-volt electrical architecture.

Hyundai hasn’t introduced powertrain facts yet, but it is really logical to suppose the Ioniq 6 will occur with the same electrical motor and battery pack configurations as the Ioniq 5. That indicates a rear-travel product with a 225-hp, 258-lb-ft motor run by a option of 58-kWh or 77.4-kWh battery packs, plus an AWD model with the even larger battery pack and a 99-hp, 188-lb-ft motor at the front axle to provide the full output to 320 hp and 446 lb-ft.

The Ioniq 6 actions 116.1 inches involving the axles, neatly splitting the change involving the Ioniq 5, which has a 118.1-inch wheelbase, and the EV6, which rolls on a 114.1-inch wheelbase. The initial program experienced been for the Ioniq 6 to share the EV6’s wheelbase, Hyundai Styling Team head Simon Loasby states, but the designers fought tricky for the excess inches to make improvements to the car’s proportions.

The wheelbase stretch shipped one other significant benefit: more space for rear passengers. Even though 5 inches shorter in general than a Honda Accord, the Ioniq 6 offers virtually limousine concentrations of rear knee- and legroom, however the battery pack means the seat base is nearer to the flat floor than in a car or truck with an internal combustion engine.

Just one of the initial names regarded as for the Ioniq 6 was Streamliner, Hyundai’s head of international style and design, SangYup Lee, states. “We resolved on Ioniq 6, but I generally see a Streamliner badge underneath,” jokes Lee, who referenced visuals of iconic wind-dishonest automobiles this kind of as the Stout Scarab and Phantom Corsair from the late 1930s and the 1947 Saab 92 for the duration of the media preview for the new Hyundai.

“It can be a very simple, reductive style and design,” Lee claims of the Ioniq 6’s slippery silhouette, with its reduced hood, cab-forward stance, and swooping greenhouse. “It can be a pure quantity, a proportion you can’t do with an internal combustion motor auto.”

And it isn’t going to just look like a wind cheater: Each and every surface area of the Ioniq 6 has been honed in the wind tunnel to support provide a claimed drag coefficient of .21, which would make the Ioniq 6 as slippery as a Tesla Model 3.

Amazing details abound. The top rated component of the rear close, which vaguely echoes the form of a classic Porsche 911’s whale tail spoiler, has a pixel mild graphic that rolls about onto its upper surface. The way the rear fenders circulation inward toward the higher surface of the trunklid remembers forms discovered on each outdated 911s and a Bangle-era BMW 6 Collection. Lee’s team tried out everything to get rid of the shark-fin antenna on the roof, but when they observed they couldn’t for specialized factors, they produced it from a dim, translucent materials so you can glimpse the digital hardware in.

But the relentless pursuit of the streamliner ethic has resulted in a pair of awkward style aspects, like the cutline in the C-pillar, an inevitable byproduct of the have to have to have a trunklid that extends to the best of the rear fenders. Then there’s the way the rear door cutline extends into roof side rails to allow for the framed door uppers, accomplished to increase rear entry and egress. They are insignificant quibbles, and on a darkish-colored car or truck, they is not going to be visible. In person, the Ioniq 6 has a placing existence.

The Ioniq 6’s spacious, properly-equipped interior has a quality ambience that can make Volkswagen’s ID4 inside glimpse cheap and all the Tesla cabins search spartan. Variable ambient lights is standard, but the light is bounced off the surfaces of the door panels, so you don’t see the light sources. There is no Hyundai emblem on the steering wheel, just 4 pixels that alter color: white when voice activation is employed and eco-friendly to show the vehicle is charging.

The electronic instrument panel is a 12.-inch display screen, with a 2nd 12.-inch touchscreen for the infotainment procedure higher than the centre console. As The us will get traditional rearview mirrors somewhat than the cameras accessible in other markets, there will not be screens on the wings that flare up at possibly finish of the dash. Two interior trims will be readily available, equally employing a wide range of sustainable resources, together with fabrics from recycled plastics, recycled fishing internet carpets, and leather-based dyed applying flaxseed oil.

Hyundai is offering a complete of 12 exterior paint colors on the Ioniq 6, which include gold and eco-friendly matte finishes that use bamboo charcoal pigments, while it’s not certain how lots of of these will make it stateside. Depending on spec, the Ioniq 6 will be equipped with either 18-inch wheels and 225/55 tires or 20-inch wheels with 245/40 tires.

Hyundai resources say the Ioniq 6 will be priced less than the smaller sized Tesla Design 3 when it goes on sale up coming calendar year, which indicates a beginning price of a lot less than $48,000 for the entry-stage rear-generate design. Hyundai considers Tesla a luxurious manufacturer, and in phrases of its pricing and customer perception in the U.S., that’s a truthful assumption. But the Ioniq 6, which is a Design 3 and Design S tweener in conditions of its general size with a roomier again seat than possibly, appears to be just as upscale as either of Elon’s sedans.

It also appears to be like to be a excellent worth and another head-turning design, both of which are immediately turning out to be Ioniq brand name calling playing cards.