Ioniq, Hyundai’s electric sub-brand, will soon be launching its first model. Today’s announcement is clear: we can expect the Ioniq 5 in early 2021.
Just a little more patience and then Ioniq will arrive with her firstborn, the 5. It will appear ‘early in 2021’, parent brand Hyundai announces. The Ioniq 5 is the car of which we got the first preview in 2019 in the form of the Hyundai 45 Concept. The production version thus gets the logo of the sub-brand printed on its nose. Not surprising when you look at how the Ioniq 5 will roughly look like, because there is no Hyundai in it anymore. A prototype of the 5 confirmed that we were pretty close with our illustrations last spring. The Ioniq 5 promises to be a hatchback with crossover-like proportions. Compare it a bit with the size of the Nissan Leaf.
Based on the concept car, we can expect a minimalist interior.
The sleek EV is the first Ioniq to be a true pioneer for the Hyundai Motor Group and for that reason it is inspired by the Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept from 1974. After all, it was also a pioneer for the South Korean company. The 5 is not only a pioneer in terms of naming, but also technically: it is the first model on the brand-new E-GMP basis. A modular platform for a range of electric cars from Ioniq, Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. As many as 23 models will appear on that platform in the next five years. You can count on Ioniqs to become very specially designed EVs, while Hyundai is deploying the basis for more conventional-looking electric cars under its own brand name.
Specifications
Ioniq knows how to keep under wraps what performance we can expect from the 5. Given its placement in the market, it is not surprising to count on a range of 500 km. The base is suitable for four- and rear-wheel drive, the latter is expected to be the case with the 5. Hyundai speaks at E-GMP about powers from 100 to 275 hp (one engine) up to 600 hp (multiple engines), so that is still quite wide. An entry-level version with around 200 hp seems realistic for the Ioniq 5, but that is still a bit of guesswork.
Incidentally, 800 volt technology is used for energy management, whereby (very) fast charging is possible. Rumors have it that you can be done with up to 80 percent full charge of the battery pack in less than 20 minutes. Count on a slightly higher price than its own ‘competitor’, the Hyundai Kona, so somewhere at the bottom of € 40,000 as an entry-level price. A few more months, then we’ll all know for sure.