Hyundai is on a roll. Global sales are up 4 percent, despite ongoing pandemic and supply chain issues, and sales outside of its native South Korea are up an impressive 7 percent. Then there is the small matter of awards.
Of the top three 2022 World Car of the Year finalists, an accolade conferred by a jury of 102 automotive journalists from 33 countries, not one but two were from the Hyundai Motor Group: Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6. Kia is minority-owned by Hyundai, and its EV6 is based on the same platform as the Ioniq 5. The other finalist was the Ford Mustang Mach-E—making all of the final three EVs.
Hyundai also nabbed World Car Design of the Year and World Electric Car, beating the Audi E-Tron GT and Mercedes-Benz EQS. And along with many other country-specific trophies, the Ioniq 5 was crowned 2022 German Car of the Year—no doubt putting a few noses at BMW, Audi, and Mercedes even further out of joint.
Following the design and performance success of the Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6, the automotive world has been eagerly watching to see what will follow. That wait is now over. Hyundai plans to introduce 17 EV models over the next eight years, starting with the Ioniq 6.
With its aerodynamically efficient profile, which affords the Ioniq 6 a drag coefficient of 0.21 (just a smidge behind the 0.20 claimed by EQS, currently the world’s most aerodynamic car), the new Hyundai has more than a whiff of Porsche 911 about it, albeit with four doors. SangYup Lee, executive vice president and head of the Hyundai Global Design Center, refers to the sweeping silhouette as “streamliner typology.”
Sitting between 2021’s Ioniq 5 and the forthcoming Ioniq 7 electric SUV, the Ioniq 6 appears aimed at people looking for more performance than the family-orientated Ioniq 5 affords. As well as an ultra-low drag coefficient, which should help with the EV’s as-yet-unstated range, Hyundai’s electrified streamliner has additional aero features, including active air flaps at the front, wheel gap reducers, and optional digital side mirrors that are slimmer than traditional designs.
“With 7, we talk about Teutonic design,” says Simon Loasby, vice president and head of Hyundai Style Group. “But this is much more streamlined, more elegant. The interesting thing about streamliners is it’s a design movement which we’ve joined. And that, even though this is the first one of its kind, gives the car a background. That was always our motivation, the streamlined form. We are squeezing every last count of aero out of this design.”
Look closely and you can see evidence of this squeezing. In addition to wheel gap reducers at the front to reduce turbulence, there are downward “winglets” on the ends of the rear spoiler, as well as a seemingly superfluous wedge shape built into either side of the rear bumper. Both small design details are easily missed but help reduce drag and attain that very high aero efficiency.
The car is built on the same 800V, super-fast charging E-GMP architecture as the Ioniq 5, which means the Ioniq 6 will also have “vehicle to load” capability so you can run electrical items such as a TV or vacuum cleaner off its battery.
The Ioniq 6 also pulls off the same visual illusion as the 5 in seeming much smaller than it really is. Only when you approach the car do the EV’s full dimensions reveal themselves. An extremely long wheelbase of 2.95 meters supports an overall length of 4.85 meters, width of 1.88 meters, and height of 1.5 meters. This is without question a big car, but it just doesn’t look it.
The most obvious visual flourish is the Ioniq 6’s rear wing “parametric pixel high-mounted stop lamp” that delivers an eye-catching, animated Knight Rider-esque display when the car is woken up.
Inside, there’s a completely flat floor. Thanks to the sheer length of the vehicle, there’s plenty of legroom, even in the back.
Screens and switchgear are kept to a minimum, with a control panel centrally located in the front. A digital dashboard combines a 12-inch touchscreen display and 12-inch digital cluster, while a bridge-type center console provides in-car storage, as well as a deliberately flat surface to place a laptop or tablet when charging.
For those wishing to deck out their interior, the Ioniq 6 has 64 colors and six dual-color-themed lighting options to ping between. A Speed Sync mode also changes the brightness of the interior lighting based on the vehicle’s speed.
Instead of putting the brand badge on the steering wheel, Hyundai has hidden a four-dot interactive light system under the fabric. This can be used to indicate the car’s level of charge or, like on a smart speaker, show when the car’s digital assistant is listening to your commands or requests. It’s a simple and effective idea that immediately makes you wonder why it hasn’t been done before.
Lastly, Hyundai has focused on eco materials throughout, including using recycled pigment paint. The interior can be trimmed with eco-process leather and recycled PET fabric on the seats, bio TPO skin for the dashboard, bio PET fabric for the headliner, bio paint derived from vegetable oils on the doors, and recycled fishing net carpets.
The speed at which Hyundai has managed to take this EV from blank sheet to finished production car is also impressive. Even before the pandemic struck, multiple design groups around the world collaborated using VR equipment linked to a hub in Germany. Loasby even used a custom VR briefcase so he could coordinate with design colleagues while working remotely.
“Just 37 months ago, there was nothing,” says Loasby. But it took the design team only a few months to present a concept to the Hyundai board in full VR, with executives donning backpack computers to see the design. Once the team got a green light, it took less than three years to build a production car. “Now there is a lot of pressure on us,” says Loasby. "Because we’ve shortened the [design] process by using digital design.”
