Hyundai announced Monday it would bring back silliness to car names and make the world’s first hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicle available in the same body, catering decadently to an individual’s fondness for electrons.
The Ioniq — which sounds like it’s spelled — will be unveiled January in South Korea and later next year in Geneva and New York. It will go on sale next year.
According to the automaker, Ioniq is the type of car people have been asking for: a model named after slightly obfuscated common words to fit with an over-stretched marketing philosophy rather than alphanumeric letters and symbols that require no creativity whatsoever. (God, I miss the Integra.)
Hyundai released a teaser image Monday that will undoubtedly be followed by a production sneak snapped by a Samsung flip phone inside a factory soon.
No powertrain information was offered from Hyundai, other than the car would be offered with either hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric powertrains. The car’s batteries will be powered by lithium-ion cells, according to Hyundai, following suit with other automakers such as Toyota that’s begun moving from nickel-metal hydride cells in hybrid cars.
According to Hyundai, the Ioniq will be on an all-new platform for the automaker.
It’s also clear from the photo that we’re probably looking at a Volt-esque hatchback, but the car clearly doesn’t have the same roofline as Kia’s newly announced Niro.
Not that one.
When it’s released, the Hyundai Ioniq will be the next in a long line of great, wonderful cars with slightly made-up names such as the Chevrolet Lumina, Buick Reatta, Oldsmobile Bravada and Alero.
They could have just gone with truth-in-advertising and named it “Loser.”
I’m tired of these “sneak peek” profile line images.
Pretty sure Hyundai and Kia are doing quite well. The new Sorrento in SXL trim is a fine vehicle.
No argument from me about that. My argument is that nobody besides Toyota with their Prius and maybe Tesla… and I say maybe because I’m not too sure about their accounting practises… is making any money on electric cars.
This may be the greatest electric car line ever devised but looking at history makes it easy to predict that they’ll be losers in this segment.
I wouldn’t be too sure of that.
H/K have sold nearly 30k of the hybrid versions of the Sonata and Optima YTD (ahead of Camry hybrid sales) and that’s down from prior years as hybrid Sonata supplies were down due to the change to the new model and the Optima hybrid due to be replaced soon.
The Fusion hybrid also sells comparably to the Camry hybrid.
There just hasn’t been a real competitor to the Prius yet (the Volt was too expensive and too limited in its packaging and the C-Max hybrid had its issues as well).
Now, doubt anyone one is going to beat the Prius lineup in sales, but that doesn’t mean new entrants can’t grab a significant share of the market as the hybrid versions of the Sonata, Optima and Fusion have done in relation to the Camry hybrid (in addition, likely there will be more than a few buyers repulsed by the sheetmetal of the new Prius).
As a side note – H/K have been using lithium-ion batteries for their hybrid powerplants from the very start.
Named a bit close to “ironic” – can that do any good?
I read it as Ion IQ, which is too long for a car name.
It reminds me of Intel’s Itanium processor, which quickly got dubbed “the Itanic”.
As Alanis Morissette says “Wouldn’t it be IroNiq?”
We are hoping that they end up making this car. It would be pretty awesome!
Well, I’m very interested.
Price them all at $35k and make them all hit 60 mph in 8 seconds. Then pick your lifestyle, and this product is a winner:
EV: 150 miles range
PHEV: 50 miles EV, 450 miles gas
Hybrid: 42/50/46 MPG
Obviously these are just guesses, but I think they’d make for a compelling model line. Advertisements could depict whole families that have one of each in their driveway, suitable for different purposes.
Think Kia made the smarter move by going with the crossover body-style even if it costs them a little in MPG and range.
The Bolt is interesting as well, but GM should have gone with larger Voltec crossover (something that is at least a compact in size).
$35k would be steep for the hybrid version; needs to be around the price of the Sonata hybrid, if not lower.
My cashier at Target the other day was name Ioniq. Pure class.