Here's The 2017 Hyundai IONIQ to Take On The Prius

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Hyundai on Monday revealed its 2017 Hyundai IONIQ ahead of its official reveal at Geneva in March and my goodness it’s already yelling at me.

The hatchback has been in the works for some time by now, which we already knew. Hyundai cleared up some of the technical details that we were waiting on — but not its fuel economy, apparently.

Sheesh.

For starters, the Ioniq (I can’t caps anymore, sorry) is powered by Hyundai’s all-new 1.6-liter Atkinson-style cycle engine and a lithium-ion polymer battery that produce 103 horsepower and 42 horsepower respectively. Hyundai didn’t specify what the total combined output of the Ioniq could be, so we’ll have to wait on that because apparently the combined horsepower number maths harder than just adding the two together.

According to Hyundai, the internal combustion engine is the world’s most heat-efficient engine — although Toyota cited the same 40 percent thermal efficiency figure when it unveiled its new Prius engine.

The Ioniq’s power is shifted through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission because CVTs are just plain silly. Hyundai said the transmission has been optimized for the hybrid system, and transmits more than 95 percent of the power to the wheels.

In addition to powertrain improvements, the automaker detailed weight savings in the car. Hyundai said an aluminum hood and tailgate helped to cut roughly 25 pounds from the overall weight of the car, in addition to extensive use of high-strength lightweight steel.

Inside, the Ioniq looks like a Hyundai — good or bad.

The setup looks fairly plain, and we already know that it’ll sport Apple’s CarPlay. Compared to the 2016 Prius, which I drove last year, the Ioniq looks fairly sleepy, but far from brash like higher trims of the Prius.

Hyundai didn’t specify how much, or when the car would go on sale. We know it’s coming this year, but now at least we know what it looks like and some of what’s underneath.

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • C P C P on Jan 08, 2016

    Still don't see a lot of 10 year & older Hyundai's running about. The style nice cars. But there's always an issue.

    • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Jan 09, 2016

      "Always an issue"? What 10-year-old car doesn't have an issue?

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Jan 08, 2016

    I like the design here. Considerably better looking than the new samurai-attacked Prius. Maybe integrate the pull area of the hatch a little better, the dark space under the logo is clunky looking.

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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