Norwegian EV connoisseur Bjorn Nyland has a YouTube channel full of videos exploring all kinds of highlights and lowlights of all kinds of green energy contrivances. While testing Nokian tires in Norway’s Lapland, Nyland discovered a Hyundai Ioniq 6 prototype parked at a hotel and got to doing what he does best — exploring everything about it that wasn’t covered. The sedan was still wearing the bulky black camo it had on the last time we saw it, in September 2021, as well as squiggly camo over sheetmetal that was formerly exposed. That’s unexpected for a car that last year looked like it could enter production imminently. In August, however, a month before the spy shots, the Korea Economic Daily reported internal Hyundai documents spoke of delaying Ioniq 6 production by two or three months “for a significant redesign and longer mileage to appeal to young, trendy drivers.”
We didn’t notice differences between the previous prototype and the sedan Nyland crawled, but he was able to pick out a few details we didn’t know about. The Ioniq 6 looks to have the same door handles as the Ioniq 5, which are rounded rectangles flush with the door skin when closed. The pebbled light forms in the Hyundai Prophecy concept have migrated to production as a double-stacked row of individual LED DRLs under the main headlights, and as individual LEDs under a clear cover for each taillight. He couldn’t tell kind of material formed the exterior surface of the roof, but couldn’t see a sunroof or panoramic roof opening inside the cabin. The nearly solid 18-inch wheels hid unexpectedly large brake rotors, while the Michelin tires were unexpectedly thin at 225/50 in front and 225/55 in back.
Nyland also made sure to note that there were no notches in the roof for a rack, and no space under the bumper for a trailer hitch, both of which would be disappointing to Norwegians if that holds true for retail units.
The Korea Economic Daily said production will begin in May or June of this year. Supposedly, Hyundai is extending the length of the Ioniq 6 by 20 millimeters, installing the larger 77.4-kWh battery shared with the Ioniq 5, and fitting a “lighting grille” that could act as a kind of LED communication device with those outside the car. We saw a kind of grille like that on the Hyundai Seven concept at the LA Auto Show; seems the Ioniq 6 front fascia would need quite the rework to get one in. We’ll wait to find out about all of this when the EV sedan debuts. Until then, check out what Nyland has to say.
Related video:
Keyword: Hyundai Ioniq 6 prototype spotted in Norway on video