Hyundai Ioniq 6 spy photos: Korea’s next EV
Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a four-door electric saloon
Super-sized bodywork – and cool detailing – for new 2023 Ioniq 6
Cut-outs around headlamps reveal ‘cubic’ detailing of Ioniq 6
Our spies caught the new 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 winter testing in the Arctic
Expect to see the Ioniq 6 in UK showrooms in winter 2022-23
Hyundai Prophecy concept car from 2020 is said to inspire the Ioniq 6
Hyundai E-GMP electric car hardware will underpin the Hyundai Ioniq 6
► Hyundai Ioniq 6 scooped in the wild► Spy photos, news and detail on EV
► Prophecy concept looks dialled down
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 will become the second member of the Koreans’ new electric car range later this year, adding an electric saloon to sit alongside the retro-futurist 5 hatchback.
Our spy photos capture the 6 on chilly Arctic test in full production guise. The late prototype is wearing only light black aprons around final bodywork, affording a good glimpse at how the Tesla-fighter will look when it lands in showrooms in the next 12 months.
Hyundai Ioniq 6: bodystyle and design
Sources at Hyundai point to the uber-cool 2020 Prophecy concept car as inspiration for the 6, but these spyshots suggest the production version will carry a more normalised stance: this appears to be a regular four-door saloon bodyshell, albeit one we expect to wear some funky detailing as seen on the 5.
Look closely and you’ll see similar alloy wheels and cut-outs in the disguise reveal similar ‘cubic’ detailing. We expect the 6 to repeat some of the motifs and crisp detailing that have made the Ioniq 5 stand out from the crowd so well.
But the super-slammed roofline, space-age cameras-for-mirrors and svelte Porsche Taycan bodywork appear to have been watered down significantly in the leap from motor show catwalk to showroom reality. The Prophecy (below) appears a north star, rather than a next step.
The Ioniq 5 has something of a super-sized aesthetic to it: in the pictures, it looks like a regular hatchback – but see it on the road, and it appears larger than life. From our first spy photos, we would judge the 6 to have a similar stance, thanks to the skateboard battery position and resulting hiked-up dimensions.
What else do we know about the new Ioniq 6? What sort of electric range can we expect?
Hyundai is rolling out an entire family of electric cars at impressive pace, all spun off the E-GMP architecture (below), which is the group’s first dedicated battery electric platform.
It’s the same hardware as seen on the 5 and comes in a variety of configurations. Expect a choice of two battery sizes: 58kWh for the cheaper, rear-wheel drive models and a larger 73kWh battery capacity for long-range models which can also be specced with twin electric motors for all-wheel drive.
This points to a (claimed) electric range of more than 300 miles, although – as usual – you should take that with a pinch of salt. The system supports rapid-charging, reaching 80% capacity in just 18 minutes, if you can find a quick enough charger, and it supports bi-directional charging, so you can even power tools, your home or another electric car by using your Hyundai as a power source.
When can I buy the Hyundai Ioniq 6?
We expect to see the production car unveiled in summer 2022, ahead of a showroom launch next winter. It’s too early to talk exact prices, but we’d predict an RRP around the £40k mark in the UK.
The 6 is one of 23 – twenty-three! – new all-electric models to be launched by 2025. Seems the Koreans are stealing something of a march in the EV space and they expect to have sold 1 million BEVs by the middle of the decade.
Keyword: Spied: Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV takes aim at Tesla