Hyundai's Ioniq 5 SUV kicked off the company's all-electric range in the best possible fashion, taking out multiple World Car of the Year 2022 awards, selling out in advance all over the place and generally making an excellent impression with its angular, tidy, spacious design, practical range and power figures, and competitive pricing.
The company has now given us a first look at its difficult second album, the Ioniq 6. Built upon the same E-GMP battery-electric architecture as the 5, the 6 is conceived as an "electrified streamliner" four-door sedan, and its curvy, Porsche-adjacent bubble-car look is certainly a departure from the sharp angles on the SUV.
It's there for a reason; the Ioniq 6's single-curve aerodynamic profile contributes to a drag coefficient of 0.21, a figure that'll put it up there with some of the world's lowest-drag production cars, notably the Lucid Air, which recently achieved an impressive 520-mile (832-km) EPA range figure.
Aero touches include a low nose, active front air flaps, wheel gap reducers, a small rear winglet, optional low-drag camera mirrors, and a fully covered undercarriage. What'll this all mean for range? Well, full specifications won't be dropping until next month, but we'd certainly expect it to be efficient on the highway.
The design carries over the Ioniq 5's use of "parametric pixels" – indeed, there are more than 700 of these little light features dotted about the place, with clusters in the headlight, taillight, rear wing brake light, air vents and center console providing some visual flair and animation where appropriate. There's even four of 'em on the steering wheel, to remind you you're driving an Ioniq every time you honk the horn.
The flat-floored interior is said to be spacious and comfy. The dash looks familiar, with its 12-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12-inch non-touch digital instrument cluster. Mood lighting sets off the dash and puts some nice stripey textures on the doors. If you want to really flout your eco-credentials, you can order it with seat covers made out of recycled PET bottles, "bio-paint" derived from vegetable oils, and carpets made from recycled fishing net.
Full specifications and features will be revealed when the Ioniq 6 launches in July, and time will tell if the market declares the look of the new Ioniq to be iconiq or ironiq.
As you bate your breath, enjoy a rampantly self-indulgent video below and plenty of photos in the gallery.
Source: Hyundai
