LOS ANGELES — Hyundai Motor America is showing off its second dedicated electric vehicle — the 2023 Ioniq 6 — at the Los Angeles Auto Show Thursday, saying it will come in three well-equipped trim levels and offer a competitive 340 miles of battery range and ultrafast charging capabilities.
The four-door “streamliner” is targeted at Gen Z buyers looking for a sporty EV that supports their connected lifestyle.
“We want our cars to always connect with customers on an emotional level,” SangYup Lee, who heads up Hyundai’s design center, said in a statement. Hyundai designs its vehicles with different lifestyles in mind, vs. taking a “one-style-fits-all approach,” he said.
Like the Ioniq 5 compact crossover — the first of 17 battery-electric vehicles Hyundai Motor Co. plans to debut globally by 2030 — the new Ioniq 6 is built on Hyundai’s Electric Global Modular Platform.
In addition to supporting 400- and 800-volt charging infrastructures and enabling ample driving range, the E-GMP architecture allows for optimized interior space for passengers and cargo.
The automaker did not release interior specifications for the Ioniq 6, but previously said its cockpit has the ability to transform into a resting zone or workspace and that seats are 30 percent thinner compared with most vehicles, lending to a roomier feel.
The Ioniq 6 is available in S, SEL and Limited trim levels that can each be configured with either a standard-range 53-kilowatt-hour battery pack or a longer-range 77.4-kWh battery.
The standard-range Ioniq 6 comes in two-wheel drive only with a 111-kilowatt electric motor on the rear wheels. The long-range Ioniq 6 can be configured in a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a 74-kW motor on the front wheels and a 165-kW motor on the rear wheels, or a 168-kW-single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup.
The all-wheel-drive option delivers a combined output of 320 hp and 446 pound-feet of torque and offers an estimated 310 miles of range. That’s 30 miles shy of the range offered in the single-motor long-range Ioniq 6 with 225 hp and 258 pound-feet. Hyundai did not provide a range estimate for the standard-range Ioniq 6.
When hooked up to a 350-kW fast charger, the Ioniq 6 can recoup 80 percent of its battery power in 18 minutes. In a pinch, it can get back 65 miles of range in just 5 minutes. When hooked up to a Level 2 charger, which typically has an output of 3 kW to 19 kW, the Ioniq 6 completes a full charge in just over 7 hours.
The new model’s sleek design achieves a low drag coefficient of 0.22. It has a long 116-inch wheelbase, low nose, slight boat-tail structure and full underbody cover.
Other efficiency boosters include active air flaps, an elliptical wing-inspired spoiler with winglet, separation traps on both sides of the bumper, wind deflectors and reduced wheel-arch gaps.
The Ioniq 6 is the first Hyundai model to offer over-the-air updates allowing for performance improvements or the addition of features via wireless communication to the EV control unit and electronic brake and power steering units.
Owners of the Ioniq 6 get unlimited 30-minute charging for two years within Electrify America’s network of 800 fast charge stations offering 3,500 individual ports.