Hyundai Motor launches its first electric sedan, competing with Tesla

Hyundai Motor Co unveiled its first electric sedan, the Ioniq 6, on Thursday, hoping to capture a larger piece of the electric car (EV) competitive market by Tesla Inc.

The Ioniq 6 is one among more than 31 electric cars which Hyundai Motor Group – which includes Hyundai Motor, its sister business Kia Corp, and luxury brand Genesis – intends to launch by 2030 in order to gain a projected 12 percent share of the worldwide EV market.

Hyundai’s sedan will increase its EV lineup beyond its existing crossovers and SUVs, allowing it to fight head-to-head with Tesla in a popular segment.

Hyundai and Kia accounted for 13.5 percent of worldwide EV shipments in the January-May period this year, excluding China, the world’s largest car market, as per industry tracker SNE Research. Only Tesla had a larger market share within the same time period.

According to Hyundai, the Ioniq 6 will have a driving range of around 610 kilometres (380 miles), which is approximately 30% greater than the Ioniq 5 crossover.

“We’re utilising the same (battery) cell chemistry, but… we increased the number of batteries per pack, greatly increasing energy density,” stated Kim Yong Wha, an executive vice president at Hyundai.

The Ioniq 6’s pricing has not been disclosed by Hyundai.

It will be available in two rechargeable battery sizes: 53 kWh and 77.4 kWh, and production will begin later this year at Hyundai’s Asan facility in South Korea.

The timing of the market introduction will be disclosed later.

Hyundai normally sources cells from LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation’s SK On, while Kia recently embraced China’s CATL batteries for its cars marketed in South Korea, but the company did not reveal the supplier for Ioniq 6 vehicles.

“Both vehicles solve two main faults that earlier EV vehicles in the US market have had: lack of design and range,” said Ivan Drury, Edmunds senior manager of insights, of the Ioniq 5 and EV 6.