Ioniq (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is an automotive sub-brand and a division of

Hyundai Motor Company Hyundai Motor Company, often referred to as Hyundai Motors, ( ) and commonly known as Hyundai (), is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, which ...

with headquarters in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. The sub-brand was established in 2020 as a sub-brand for Hyundai's

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

line-up. The sub-brand is slated to aid Hyundai to achieve a targeted 1 million electric vehicle sales annually by 2025, with the Ioniq brand projected to contribute 560,000 of those sales.

History

Before it was introduced as a sub-brand, the Ioniq name had been used for the 2012 Hyundai i-oniq concept, a small sporty hatchback that was equipped with a battery-electric drivetrain and a range-extending gasoline engine. Between 2016 and 2022, the name was used for the

Hyundai Ioniq The Hyundai Ioniq () is a compact five-door liftback manufactured and marketed by Hyundai. The nameplate ''Ioniq'' is a portmanteau of ''ion'' and ''unique''. It is marketed as the first Hyundai automobile to be offered without a standard intern ...

, a compact liftback available with a choice of eco-friendly powertrains: gasoline hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or full battery-electric; the 2016 Ioniq was intended to compete with the

Toyota Prius The is a Compact car, compact/small family car, small family liftback (supermini/subcompact sedan (car), sedan until 2003) produced by Toyota. The Prius has a Hybrid vehicle drivetrain, hybrid drivetrain, combined with an internal combustion ...

hybrid and

Nissan Leaf The is a battery-electric car manufactured by Nissan, produced since 2010. It was offered exclusively as a 5-door hatchback until 2025, which since then has become a crossover SUV model. The term "LEAF" serves as a backronym to ''leading envir ...

battery-electric vehicles. On 10 August 2020, the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group announced the launching of a new automotive brand called Ioniq (a portmanteau of "ion" and "unique", styled in all-capital letters as "IONIQ") in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, reserved for electric cars. At the launch, the manufacturer revealed its plans to produce electric vehicles named 5, 6 and 7 and based on the Hyundai-Kia E-GMP common electric car platform presented at the 2019

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. The first vehicle launched was the Ioniq 5, a crossover utility vehicle that was first sold in 2021. Hyundai is currently expanding its full-electric lineup to include the Ioniq 6, a sedan which debuted in Europe and South Korea in the second half of 2022, and the Ioniq 7 (currently Ioniq 9), a large sport-utility vehicle which is projected to hit the market in 2024.

Models

The Ioniq 5

compact crossover Compact crossover SUV is an automobile classification used mainly in North America to describe a segment of crossover SUV, a type of sport utility vehicle, between subcompact crossover SUV and mid-size crossover SUV. By the late 2010s, the se ...

was released in February 2021 and was previewed by the Hyundai Concept 45 EV presented at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Ioniq 6

mid-size sedan Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in t ...

will be produced from 2022 and is foreshadowed by the Hyundai Prophecy concept car, which was scheduled to be presented at the 2020

Geneva International Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised by ...

but this was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Ioniq 9

mid-size crossover A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles ( SU ...

will be produced from November 2024. Previously known as the Ioniq 7 during development, it is the production model of the Seven concept car, which made its debut at the LA Motor Show in November 2021.

Design

Under its numeric nomenclature, even numbers are reserved for sedans, while odd numbers are reserved for crossovers. As a unifying design concept, Hyundai has included "Parametric Pixel" external light designs on each vehicle; these are small square lighting elements which Hyundai characterize as "a unique jewel-like design", reminiscent of 8-bit video game graphics. In 2022, Hyundai chief of design

SangYup Lee SangYup Lee (; sometimes styled as Sang-yup, Sangyup, or Sang Yup; born 22 November 1969) is a South Korean automobile designer employed by Hyundai Motor Company as its Vice President of Design since June 2016. Prior to Hyundai, Lee worked for G ...

clarified there were three "pillars" consistent across the Ioniq brand: # Living space-focused interior # Parametric Pixel # Sustainability and sustainable materials Because the lineup is designed to embrace "diverse lifestyles ... rather than a one-size-fits-all approach", Lee noted that each model will follow a different theme. The E-GMP platform enables a flat floor inside, giving designers more freedom to personalize the interior for the intended use. For example, the Ioniq 6 has a "mindful cocoon" theme.

Heritage Series

Hyundai have exhibited several models in its Heritage Series, which are one-off electromod vintage Hyundai vehicles that have been restored and converted with an electric vehicle powertrain; the head- and tail-lights of Heritage Series models share the same "Parametric Pixel" design language as the Ioniq line. Technical details of the powertrains fitted to the Heritage Series vehicles were not disclosed. The Pony Heritage was part of the "Reflections in Motion" exhibition at Hyundai Motorstudio Busan (April 8–27 June 2021) alongside the 45 EV and Prophecy concepts; the pixelated lights of the Pony Heritage were animated, which Hyundai called the "Pixel Roadtrip".

References

External links