Future-oriented: Hyundai is slowly growing in electric vehicle market share in the US and Europe, and it has big ambitions to capture seven percent of the global electric vehicle market by 2030. a first look at the highly anticipated Ioniq 6 all-electric sedan.
Not long ago, Hyundai was in talks with Apple to build an electric car. The South Korean automaker seemed interested in making its expertise available to the Cupertino giant, which has long been rumored to be working on a self-driving car. However, those discussions quickly fell apart as Apple executives worried about information leaks. Similarly, Hyundai executives remained divided on whether or not they thought Apple was a good fit for a potential partnership.
Earlier this year, Hyundai stopped researching and developing internal combustion engines, adding to a growing list of companies committed to going all-electric in the coming years. At its 2022 CEO Investor Day forum, the Hyundai Motor Group presented its bold electrification roadmap to 2030, which includes no less than 17 new battery-powered electric vehicles.
Today, Hyundai offered the first look at its upcoming all-electric sedan, the Ioniq 6† It looks a lot like the Prophecy concept EV it was showcased in 2020, and as noted by Top Gear, it appears to be inspired by classic, sleek designs from the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Stout Scarab or the Tatra 87.
Details are now scarce, as Hyundai plans to make a full disclosure on July 14. Still, the company teased an ultra-low drag coefficient of just 0.21, which is one of the lowest you can get with most cars on the market today. This is partly due to the streamlined design with a low nose and active air valves.
The Ioniq 6 shares the same E-GMP platform as the Ioniq 5 crossover, which can go up to 315 miles on a single charge, and since the Ioniq 5 is a smaller car with little drag, it will not only be cheaper, but perhaps offer more reach.
The cocoon-shaped interior features durable materials and a pair of touchscreens give it a futuristic look. However, Hyundai design chief Sangyup Lee told the company to Ars Technica: chose for physical buttons for things like audio and climate control.
“The touchscreen is great when this car is [in] stationary condition, but when you move, touch screens can be dangerous. For example, we always think together about the right balance, user experience, and the buttons and the combination with the speech activation. In the future, voice activation will of course play the major role compared to touchscreen, but this is still in transition. For us, everything that has to do with security, we use hardware. Anything not related to security will use a touch interface.”
Production of the Ioniq 6 is expected to start in South Korea next month. Meanwhile, Hyundai also spends on $10 billion to accelerate electrification and development of autonomous vehicles in the US, of which $5.5 billion will go towards building a battery plant in Georgia.
