Hyundai looks to upset Tesla’s apple cart with a boldly alternative streamliner saloon
Even though the Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover wasn’t the brand’s first EV when it came along in 2021, it felt like a watershed moment for a car maker whose stock continues to rise today.It showed that this Korean firm was ready to throw off the shackles of its old budget-brand reputation and to use electrification as an opportunity to recast its public image as a maker of genuinely distinctive, future-facing cars.Now, that effort finds another gear. After Ioniq 5 comes Hyundai Ioniq 6: in one sense, Hyundai’s reply to the popular Tesla Model 3 – and just the kind of car you would expect it to make. But in another sense, a wide-eyed reimagining of the traditional mid-sized saloon concept, and a car designed not only to stand out from its rivals, but also for greater aerodynamic and energy efficiency, and greater associated range, than so many of them.Hyundai describes this as a modern ‘streamliner’: a low-cut, super-sleek four-door of short-snouted, long-tail proportions that wouldn’t have been contemplated on any executive car 20 years ago. Those proportions, and its general silhouette, have delivered an ultra-low drag coefficient for the Ioniq 6, in a cabin that seats up to five occupants and that benefits from various other practicality gains courtesy of Hyundai/Kia’s clever E-GMP vehicle architecture.Time to find out exactly what that aerodynamic design is worth, then – and whether the executive saloon segment has a new leading protagonist in its midst.Range at a glanceHyundai will stick with a two-tier derivative range once the Ioniq 6 is established and sales of the limited-run First Edition are done and dusted.Both single-motor RWD models and twin-motor AWDs can be had in either Premium or Ultimate trim. The latter gets flush door handles, upgraded front seats, leather-faced upholstery, a tilt-and-slide sunroof, all-round parking cameras, premium audio and a head-up display, as well as Premium-level equipment.The camera-based digital side mirror system is a de-facto option package on Ultimate cars only.VersionPowerHyundai Ioniq 6 RWD Premium*225bhpHyundai Ioniq 6 AWD Premium321bhp*Version testedTRANSMISSION1-spd reduction gear
Source: Autocar
