Hyundai has more or less separated the model name Inioq from its home-garden-and-kitchen brand. Ioniq is now a sub-brand that focuses entirely on the development and sale of electric cars.
In 2015 Hyundai turned the model name Genesis into a separate brand and now the Korean manufacturer is transforming the model name Ioniq into a brand that is purely concerned with the development of fully electric cars. Within four years, the brand will put forward at least three completely new EVs, cars that will only use one modular platform. According to Hyundai, setting up Ioniq as a more or less separate brand is a response to a rapidly changing market.
Ioniq 5, 6 and 7!
Hyundai’s all-new sub-brand is already pushing the Ioniq 5 next year, a fully electric crossover that we have seen before. The Ioniq 5 is the production version of the Hyundai 45 Concept shown at the IAA in Frankfurt in 2019. The other two models already announced are the Ioniq 6 and the Ioniq 7. The Ioniq 6 will be an electric sedan that will show its face in 2022. The design of the Ioniq 6 is based on that of the Prophecy Concept. That warmly received study model was shown at the beginning of this year during what should have been the Geneva Motor Show. Above it comes the Ioniq 7, a “[…] large SUV “, although Hyundai will not present that car to the world until 2024.
From left to right: the Ioniq 6, 7 and 5.
Modular
We know the name Ioniq from Hyundai of course from the hatchback launched in 2016 with that name. The Ioniq is not only available as a regular hybrid and as a plug-in hybrid, the 2019 facelifted efficient Hyundai is also available as a fully electric Ioniq Electric. Although Hyundai’s new sub-brand takes its name from that innovative car, the new Ioniq models ignore the platform of the ‘old’ Ioniq. Under the skin, the newcomers will be placed on a modular basis that has the E-GMP platform. Hyundai promises lots of interior space, extensively adjustable seats, extensive communication techniques and a series of unique design elements. Hyundai, for example, is already talking about the arrival of a glove compartment that is made up of drawers. According to Hyundai, every Ioniq model contains some design elements from older models. For the design of the 45 Concept, Hyundai’s design department was inspired by the Pony Coupé Concept.
Hyundai Motor Group has set itself the goal of having a share of about 10 percent of the international EV market by 2025. Around that year, it plans to sell 560,000 fully electric models annually. It is now doing this by making Ioniq a separate brand. Previously, it was Citroën that drew DS from its regular model range to make it a separate brand. More recently, Seat turned Cupra into an independent brand and Swedish Volvo turned Polestar into an individual brand.