𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗤 𝟲
The word “ Ioniq “ is not new for you, because it was a Hyundai’s Hybrid/ Plugin Hybrid / EV model. If you remember Hyundai Nishat also introduced it as CBU/ Import in Pakistan. The Ioniq model chapter is closed and the original Ioniq will go out of production in July 2022.
Ioniq might be dead but IONIQ nameplate continues and will always keep us reminding about the original model. NOW ! Ioniq is a sub brand of Hyundai and will basically deals in fully electric vehicles under its brand. As of its first offering, the Ioniq-5 was revealed in production form based on concept car "Hyundai 45" . Ioniq-5 is mix of crossover hatchback with impressive space on the interior. You can read about it here > https://bit.ly/3ORkM1K . IONIQ-5 got a world wide praise and that’s evident from the fact the it won three global awards ; read here > https://bit.ly/3QZ2DAG .
Hyundai onslaught on battery electric vehicles didn’t stop and a 4 door sedan was in works for a long time and Hyundai global just released the production version and named it “IONIQ-6”. Although 6 made an official public appearance yesterday, it somewhat appeared as concept in 2020 named “PROPHECY’.
The production version do take a lot of influence from the concept BUT Hyundai mentioned that Prophecy/ Ioniq-6 took a lot of inspiration from car model exterior designs from early 1930’s. Back in 1930’s car companies and automobile engineers understood the importance of aerodynamics & started implementing the idea of making vehicles more curvy and fluid through the air resulting in making it faster and efficient. Although there were no sophisticated wind tunnels back then but the idea and concept was functional and theoretically positive and it is to date. The design concept back then by the industry was called “STREAMLINER ” and Hyundai used the concept and the tag-line to market their new 6, “The Electrified Streamliner”.
The curvy front and rear and with arched side profile tells that Ioniq-6 is very aerodynamic and this is not only visually as it has also a drag coefficient of 0.21, which is one of the lowest for any currently in production vehicles. The exterior might look polarizing and its typical for almost all currently in production Hyundai group vehicles but same was said for Ioniq-5. On the rear you might see Porsche 911’s especially in the spoiler at the rear glass level which has an elongated integrated pixelated LED high mount stop lamp as well as the slim rear tail lights which are again pixelated.
And the rear truck opens up like a hatch unlike a conventional sedan and seems hinged somewhere at the curvature of the D pillar. The rear bumper also gets vertical lights. Door handles are flushed within doors and on side profile you see a smooth curvy panels without any evident pultruding lines . Some people might see some influence of a beetle in the roof lines. Ioniq-6 also gets digital camera based side view mirrors.
On front the sloppy bonnet helps in reduced drag and LED headlights again gets pixelated DRL’s. Being an electric, no frontal air intakes but on the lower portion of the bumper, there are air inlets for cooling battery and components and these inlets are having active shutters which are closed automatically when required. As per Hyundai, the model gets around 700 "parametric pixels" on the exterior of the car. As of size, the Ioniq-6 has approx. 116.1 “ of wheel base and all this spaces brings a lot of room on the interior. As a reference, the Hyundai Sonata has a wheelbase of 111.8”.
On the interior, Hyundai just shared some images of the front passenger seats area and dashboard. Like Ioniq-5, The 6 gets similar dual 12” HD screens one each for instrumental cluster and infotainment screen . It also carry similar setup of HVAC control with slim air vents . On the edges of dashboard on driver and passenger side, there are curvy surfaces going upwards which are actually embedded with screens to display the sideview mirror camera display.
The Ioniq-6 have similar steering wheel like the Ioniq-5 but the steering wheel don’t have a “H” logo and instead 4 dots and this basically represent the letter H as per the morse code and these dots light up as green when the car in on charging. The central console gets a bridge type tray with enormous space and all window and door controls are arranged on the central console. Hyundai promised premium level of fit and finish and materials on the interior. The 6 will have extensive ambient lighting & around 64 color options.
If you remember in case of Ioniq-5, the central console is moveable front to back but here in 6, its fixed and create a dedicated driver and passenger space. As of interior, it’s a unique like Ioniq-5 and Hyundai used recycled and ecofriendly materials like plastic bottles, plant based yarns, bio paints and plants extracts in most of the parts to remain more sustainable
Hyundai didn’t shared any technical details but like Ioniq-5 or KIA EV6, the sedan will be based on Hyundai’s E-GMP/ Electric-Global Modular Platform . We can expect Ioniq-6 will be available both with RWD or AWD variants & possibly with 58-kWh or 77.4-kWh battery packs similar to Ioniq-5 or KIA EV6. Depending on battery pack and motor configuration, the model might have 167HP & estimated range of around 350 kilometer plus for the basic RWD version with 58kWh battery as seen on Ioniq-5.
We can expect a 321HP AWD variant with 77.4 kWh battery with approx. 400 plus kilometer range similar to Ioniq-5. A RWD with larger 77.4kWh battery making 225HP, we can expect around 500 kilometers of range. We can also expect a more potent 577HP Ioniq-6N in future, a similar powertrain is available for KIA EV6 GT and a similar setup is already in works for Ioniq-5N and will be released soon.
Again we need to wait for exact technical details with battery and motor options . The battery packs will be capable of 400V AND 800V fast charging. Like Ioniq-5, it will be using a 350kWh DC fast charger, it can charge 10 to 80% in just 18 minutes. We can expect the vehicle will come with V2L, a vehicle to load function/ capabilities which basically provided 3.6Kw of AC power .
The vehicle will also comes with Hyundai’s next generation of active safety system Highway Driving Assist 2 , which comprises of forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, dynamic cruise control, driver attention warning, intelligent speed limit , blind spots monitoring and a lot more including a level 2 autonomous driving.
Hyundai will reveal full specification in next few weeks . Ioniq-6 will go in production in 2023 as model year 2024 and possibly will start around $45,000 for base model before any tax incentives in United States. Hyundai will target, Korea, Europe , China and North America as their main destinations.
By the way the assembly line which makes Sonata in Korea is being converted to manufacture Ioniq-6 and there is due chance that Sonata might be discontinued after the current 8th generation as Hyundai is planning for extensive expansion of EV's. We can say Sonata as D segment gasoline offering might be replaced with an EV and Ioniq-6 to be specific. Again as of now there are no official words about the future of Sonata but things are not in favor. The next EV inline from Hyundai is Ioniq-7, a 3 row 7 seat Crossover.
Meanwhile if you want to read about ;
Ioniq 5 , go here > https://bit.ly/3nt6MPS
KIA EV6 , go here > https://bit.ly/3ucruYe
Mercedes EQS here > https://bit.ly/3noj0cD
Mercedes EQE here > https://bit.ly/3nn9LcR
Etron GT here > https://bit.ly/3yrHqIG
VW ID.Aero > https://bit.ly/3I1Urf8
Toyota bZ4X > https://bit.ly/3QZx7Tt
F150 Lightning > https://bit.ly/3bDwbE0
Pakwheels EV dedicated discussion thread > https://bit.ly/3OvSj1L
[ f-w@ PakWheels.com]
