Hyundai design boss SangYup Lee confirms the new Ioniq 6 electric car is ready to launch.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6, the brand’s second bespoke electric car, will be revealed in the next few months, design boss SangYup Lee has confirmed.
The saloon’s design, which was previewed in the Hyundai Prophecy concept, has also been signed off, he added, following reports late last year that a redesign of the model had been ordered.
Lee did not comment on the reports, but said of the car: “The Ioniq 6 is in the spirit of Prophecy. The car gets taller because of the skateboard platform. And the design maximises the interior space. There’s also a lot of aerodynamic improvement on the car. It’s been done for a long time.”
In September, the Korean Economic Daily reported that the launch of the Ioniq 6 has been pushed back to mid-2022 to allow the body to be lengthened by 20mm, the bumpers and lights to be restyled and the battery to be upsized from 72.6kWh to 77.4kWh.
The EV’s supposedly belated launch was also attributed to a delayed overhaul of the Asan factory where it will be produced. That site currently builds the combustion-engined Sonata sedan and needs refitting to build cars based on the E-GMP platform.
The model has already been spotted testing on the road. The prototype seen had more conventional headlights and a more upright silhouette than the concept, although gaps in the camouflage show a similar pixel-style rear light bar design to the Prophecy, which made its public debut at last year’s Munich motor show.
Technically, the Ioniq 6 will be broadly identical to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, with which it shares the new E-GMP architecture. That means 800V charging hardware will feature and the saloon is likely to be offered with a choice of single- and dual-motor powertrains.
However, a battery capacity of 77.4kWh would just edge the 5’s 73kWh pack, which, along with the 6’s more overt focus on aerodynamic efficiency, is likely to push the saloon’s maximum range beyond 480km. It remains unconfirmed whether the Ioniq 5’s smaller 58kWh battery will be an option.
The 77kWh battery pack is already available in the Kia EV6 crossover from the company’s sibling brand, which suggests the Ioniq 6 could be more closely related to that car technically, in line with its performance billing. That means the rear-wheel-drive version is likely to use a 168kW motor, while four-wheel-drive cars will produce either 240kW or – in top-rung N trim – match the EV6 GT’s 430kW.
Rachel Burgess