Hyundai just unveiled its stunning Ioniq Concept 3, a compact five-door with perhaps the most playful design language the company has experimented with in years. And the production model is expected to come out next year looking a lot like this.
This electric hatchback joins Hyundai's futuristic design-focused sub-brand as its first small B-segment car, which already includes the Ioniq 5 crossover, the Ioniq 6 fastback sedan, and the enormous three-row Ioniq 9.
This one's all about the origami-inspired bodywork with sharp intersecting lines along the sides and the steel exteriors draped in an anodized-effect Tungsten Grey colorway. That's beautifully complemented by lemon-tinted glass and distinctive matching wheels. The combination reminds me of a LEGO car set similar to this one, albeit from a couple of decades ago, and it's a truly a pattern breaker of a design.
I also love the wraparound glass, the matching spoiler (which may not make it to production, sadly), and the upswept rear end that gives the car a bold stance. While you're back there, you'll notice a couple of exhaust-like outlets that are actually speakers for dishing out simulated engine sounds.
For the Concept 3, Hyundai's taken the Ioniq signature pixel lighting concept up a notch with an array of animated LED squares running along the front grille that can display messages and cute characters; there's also a full-length light bar for the tail lamps with pixel-y elements. I reckon the suicide doors and minimalist camera-equipped rear-view 'mirrors' likely won't be part of the package when this debuts, but they sure look spiffy.
The first thing you'll notice on the inside is Mr. Pix, a cute little avatar who appears on a little screen near the driver's seat and elsewhere around the car to give this vehicle a bit of personality. The bright interiors are all super futuristic, with seats, handles, and small displays that appear to all float around you. It's nice that Hyundai chose to include physical climate control buttons even at this early concept stage.
A couple more neat things to note in the cabin: the cool headrests that appear to include speakers, the steering wheel with a built-in dot matrix display, the chunky old-school pedals, and modular widgets that you can pick and choose to fit on the dash. It will be interesting to see how many of these will be carried through into the production model.
There's no official word on performance or pricing. But the word on the street is that it'll share battery specs with Kia's EV3, which means you can expect up to 375 miles (605 km) and 31-minute fast charging from 10%-80% from 81.4-kWh cells.
The Ioniq 3 is slated to arrive late in 2026, and go up against Volkswagen's compact ID 3. At the moment, Hyundai has confirmed that it will be building this in Europe for that market, so we'll have to wait and see if it'll arrive stateside. I, for one, am glad to see this compact EV beating the Ioniq 7 concept – yet another boxy SUV with a stiff upper lip that was first revealed in 2021 – to the punch.
Source: Hyundai
