The Ioniq 6 of Hyundai Motor is expected to hit the market during the third quarter of this year in South Korea before tapping into Europe and the United States. Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor

New electric vehicle expected to gain great popularity

South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor said on Aug. 26 that its new electric vehicle Ioniq 6 logged record pre-orders in the country this week.

The Ioniq 6, which was unveiled last month, racked up a total of 37,466 pre-orders on Aug. 22, to renew the first-day record set by the electric car’s previous version of the Ioniq 5 early last year.

Hyundai Motor did not disclose the number of pre-orders for the following days, but its spokesperson said that the model’s popularity continues.

Hyundai Motor plans to roll out the Ioniq 6 in its Korean factory during the third quarter of this year and strives to wade into the European market in later 2022 before tapping into the U.S. market early next year.

Its price tag varies between 52 million won ($39,000) and 61.4 million won ($45,000), depending on the battery size and other options.

The Ioniq 6 can travel 6.2 kilometers per kilowatt-hour, much better than the Tesla Model Y and the Mercedes EQS, according to Hyundai Motor.

The Seoul-based corporation noted that the South Korean government approved the long-range version’s maximum travel distance of 524 kilometers on a single charge, longer than Model Y’s 511 kilometers.

“The Ioniq 6 boasts of a better travel distance and efficiency compared to the Tesla Model Y. But the former’s price is almost half of the latter,” Prof. Kim Pil-soo from Daelim University said.

“Then, which model would be selected by motorists? I think that the Ioniq 6 would be a great hit across the world. Hyundai Motor would struggle to meet the demand for it.”

Indeed, global carmakers, including Hyundai Motor, failed to churn out enough automobiles due to the lack of automotive chips.
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