Right now, Hyundai sells a handful of EV models under its own brand, but that will soon change. The Korean automaker announced Monday it would spin off its current electric car into a complete brand over the next four years, launching three new models in the process. Think “Polestar”, but with Hyundai instead of Volvo.
With a new brand comes a new naming scheme, or rather a new numbering scheme. Hyundai announced the brand will comprise the midsize Ioniq 5 crossover by 2021. From there, the Ioniq 6 sedan will launch in 2022, followed by a large Ioniq 7 SUV in early 2024. Hyundai made a striking design splash with its Prophecy EV concept back in March, and the Ioniq brand is evidently where the automaker plans to slot its creation when the model does head into production.
The automaker worked in some wiggle room for future models in the naming scheme. Even numbers will represent sedans, while odd-numbered models will be crossovers.
Hyundai aims to sell 1 million EVs by 2025
“The Ioniq brand will change the paradigm of EV customer experience”, said Hyundai’s global chief marketing officer Wonhong Cho. “With a new emphasis on connected living, we will offer electrified experiences integral to an eco-friendly lifestyle.” Hyundai’s figure Ioniq models will ride on the same E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) as Kia’s future electric vehicles. By 2025, the automaker plans to sell 1 million battery electric cars, taking a 10 percent share in the global market. The company aims for just over half of that figure to come from the Hyundai brand itself (560,000 units by 2025), while the other share will come from Kia.
While it wasn’t able to stage an in-person reveal event, Hyundai did use lights on the London eye ferris wheel to make a giant “Q” to mark the occasion. While the brand spinoff won’t happen until next year, we will have to wait and see whether Hyundai’s other EVs — namely the current Ioniq hatchback, the Kona Electric crossover and the Nexo fuel cell crossover — will be folded into the Ioniq brand, or if Hyundai will drop these models in the coming years.
