Hyundai locally still mum on choices and price range but international strategy drops clues.

LOCAL market versions of the next addition to the Ioniq family, the ‘6 electric streamliner’ sedan, will likely configure closely to the sister Ioniq 5 hatch, with aligned pricing, too.

While Hyundai New Zealand has steered clear of giving anything away for its strategy for the coupe-roofed sedan – including when the first examples will arrive (the local website says buyers can pre-order with availability from late this year, however a spokesman today suggested first units will arrive “at the turn of the new year”) – the information stream from the parent brand and patterns in other markets, including Australia, suggest this is going to be the way.

In wake of yesterday’s big dump of new information about the car from Seoul yesterday – plus a sneak preview of a probable high-performance spin-off - HNZ was asked about these matters and if it could say when a battery improvement for the Ioniq 5, now available across the Tasman, was coming here.

 To the latter the Auckland distributor says “we will be announcing some updates to MY23 Ioniq 5 in the near future” and, in respect to Ioniq 6 offers simply: “The Ioniq 6 will be released with a range of variants and drivetrain choices for the New Zealand customer including both standard and extended range variants.”

The big headline from the latest information share, which followed on from last month’s initial reveal of the car’s design, is that one version of the car is capable of driving 610 kilometres-plus on a single charge and is also one of the most energy-efficient EVs in the market.

The WLTP-estimated energy consumption of under 14kWh/100km assigns to the rear-drive version when riding on 18-inch wheels and utilising the 53kWh battery back. The extreme driving range is with the RWD, also on 18-inchers and with the 77.4kWh battery pack, which the Ioniq 5 is also set to step up to. It’s the same battery used by the Kia EV6 to lend better range and performance than the Ioniq 5 in top (72.6kWh) form has at present. 

Hyundai has yet to share cited range abilities for the all-wheel-drive models or for the base rear-drive with a smaller battery.

The most economical Ioniq 5 at present claims 481kms range and the thriftiest Kia EV6 is a rear-wheel-drive ‘Long Range’ cited for 528km on a charge.

The ‘eco’ champ Ioniq 6 is one of two, high-specced variants, in rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive options – so mirroring the Ioniq 5 lineup, which spans from $79,990 to $112,000 pre rebate – that appear to be prioritised for export. However, there is a question mark over where the range topper will come on the 18 inch wheels integral to the thrift push or instead feature with 20 inch rims, as seen on cars in publicity photos.

The Six’s importance to the re-invented Ioniq line appears high; not just as a volume push – where it will go up against the Tesla Model 3, which has found a sweet spot with Kiwis (notwithstanding significant supply disruption from the factory in Shanghai, China) – but also as a design icon.

A swish shape inspired by streamlined cars of the 1930s doesn’t share the retro looks of the Ioniq 5, regardless that both are twinned below the skin, building on a modular E-GMP platform with the same selection of electric motor and battery arrangements to choose from.

It is also set to be the brand’s first model to offer the over-the-air (OTA) software updates to allow drivers to upgrade the vehicle’s controllers for electric devices, autonomous driving, battery, maps, media software and more.

It will also be the second model in Hyundai’s local lineup (the other being the palisade large SUV in an impending upgraded form)  to feature the marque’s Bluelink connected car service. It’s not clear if Hyundai here will follow other markets’ lead and offer a complimentary initial subscription to drive interest.

In addition to the 77.4-kWh unit (which will be available on either the single-motor RWD or dual-motor AWD variants) Ioniq 6 and also come with a smaller 54kWh single-motor version, but in rear-drive only.

Regardless that they are on the same underpinning, the sedan has a shorter wheelbase though it is longer overall, being 4855mm long, 1880mm wide and 1495mm tall.

Like its stablemates, the Ioniq 6 claims an ultra-fast 350kW charging time of 18 minutes to power it from 10 to 80 percent, and can support both 400 volt and 800 volt charging. It also gains the vehicle-to-load (V2L) function that allows customers to charge any electric devices for, again enabled using an adaptor that goes into the outside charging port. The adapter is a $1000 accessory for Ioniq 5. In addition, there is a second outlet underneath the back row seat for charging laptops, phones and other devices.

The car has the company’s LED pixel lighting front and rear, and it’s expected there will also be the choice of digital mirrors, a first for a Korean product ihere (but a second for the market, as the Audi e-tron as these). Those camera-reliant side view monitors are also integral to the car achieving its impressive 0.21 Cd drag coefficient.

Other Ioniq 6 features include ability for the driver to adjust the weighting of the steering, the power output of the electric motor and the accelerator sensitivity via the 12.0-inch central touchscreen using the 'EV Performance Tune-up' system to best suit their driving preferences.  

It also has a system known as Electronic Active Sound Design that pipes a spaceship-like sound into the cabin, and which changes the texture of the sound based on the speed at which the car is being driven.

Driver assistance features include rear cross-traffic collision-avoidance assistance, blind-spot collision avoidance, side-exit assistance (to stop passengers opening the door into traffic), intelligent speed limit assistance (which reduces the car's speed depending on the speed limit) and smart adaptive cruise control that ‘learns’ and mimics the driver's own driving style.

Hyundai has already confirmed that, with the ‘Six’ sorted, the next car will be a seven-seat SUV called .. you got it … the Ioniq 7, only so far seen in concept form.

It has also begun to reveal flavour of high-performance N-badged Ioniq models, with distribution of an image (below) of two high-performance concepts it calls RN22e and N Vision 74 that are based off the Ioniq 6. Notwithstanding, it is still possible the first electric car from the make’s N performance division will be an Ioniq 5 N, with all-wheel drive and performance to match the Kia EV6 GT confirmed for NZ, but yet to avail.