Hyundai moving further into EV arena with new Ioniq 6 sedan
It features lots of room inside, a very modern design, and impressive battery range.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- This year, Hyundai doubled its electric-only vehicle options with the sleek Ioniq 6.
It features lots of room inside, a very modern design, and impressive battery range. It's also something we don't see a whole lot of in the EV arena as of yet: a four-door sedan.
Basic prices for the Ioniq 6 start at $42,715 for the SE rear-wheel drive with standard-range battery.
The new electric sedan is a nice complement to the brand's other battery-only model, the very different-looking Ioniq 5 crossover SUV, which came out in 2022 and has proven to be pretty popular.
In a clever styling move, the Ioniq 6 shares the theme of squares in places like the taillights and elsewhere.
So what's the new Ioniq 6's battery range? Well that varies, depending on your needs and budget. The base model, the SE rear-wheel drive with standard range battery is rated by the EPA at 240 miles.
The SE with the longer-range battery (which costs $3,900 more) is the champ of the nameplate, with an estimated 361 miles of range.
While the top of the line limited all-wheel drive model ($57,215) is rated at a less impressive 270 miles, it's also the quick one with its dual motors making 320 horsepower.
One advantage of modern electric vehicles is that a manufacturer can engineer and develop a single platform then build different types of models on top of it.
The industry term for it is the "skateboard."
Upon that, it's easy to configure different vehicles to meet different needs, a much easier task than it's been for internal combustion vehicles over the decades.
Looking to a larger EV with more seats? Hyundai is promising a three-row crossover SUV, likely to be called Ioniq 7, and built on that scalable E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) that underpins the two current Hyundai EVs.
Hyundai shares the platform with its corporate sibling Kia. The Kia EV6 has already found lots of customers so far, and will be joined by the larger EV9 very soon.
As for Hyundai's new Ioniq 6, while it gets its own stand-out design, it does bear some resemblance to the current Sonata sedan, most likely no coincidence.
As more and more people make the move to electric power, there's probably a good chance some Sonata owners might find the Ioniq 6 new, yet familiar.
