Hyundai is on a roll. Global gross sales are up 4 %, regardless of ongoing pandemic and provide chain points, and gross sales outdoors of its native South Korea are up a formidable 7 %. Then there may be the small matter of awards.
Of the highest three 2022 World Car of the Year finalists, an accolade conferred by a jury of 102 automotive journalists from 33 nations, not one however two had been from the Hyundai Motor Group: Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6. Kia is minority-owned by Hyundai, and its EV6 is predicated on the identical platform because the Ioniq 5. The different finalist was the Ford Mustang Mach-E—making all the closing three EVs.
Hyundai additionally nabbed World Car Design of the Year and World Electric Car, beating the Audi E-Tron GT and Mercedes-Benz EQS. And together with many different country-specific trophies, the Ioniq 5 was topped 2022 German Car of the Year—little doubt placing just a few noses at BMW, Audi, and Mercedes even additional out of joint.
Following the design and efficiency success of the Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6, the automotive world has been eagerly watching to see what is going to observe. That wait is now over. Hyundai plans to introduce 17 EV fashions over the subsequent eight years, beginning with the Ioniq 6.
With its aerodynamically environment friendly profile, which affords the Ioniq 6 a drag coefficient of 0.21 (only a smidge behind the 0.20 claimed by EQS, at present the world’s most aerodynamic automobile), the brand new Hyundai has greater than a whiff of Porsche 911 about it, albeit with 4 doorways. SangYup Lee, govt vice chairman and head of the Hyundai Global Design Center, refers back to the sweeping silhouette as “streamliner typology.”
Sitting between 2021’s Ioniq 5 and the forthcoming Ioniq 7 electrical SUV, the Ioniq 6 seems aimed toward folks on the lookout for extra efficiency than the family-orientated Ioniq 5 affords. As effectively as an ultra-low drag coefficient, which ought to assist with the EV’s as-yet-unstated vary, Hyundai’s electrified streamliner has further aero options, together with lively air flaps on the entrance, wheel hole reducers, and non-compulsory digital facet mirrors which might be slimmer than conventional designs.
