Word on the street is that Hyundai will introduce a third electric vehicle into Australia in 2021 – and the first of a series of new V models that will come under its newly badged Ioniq electric range.
It is already understood that the refreshed 2021 Hyundai Kona will arrive in Australia in the first half of the year, but it now seems another model may soon follow, and it will likely be the first of the new Ioniq series that takes its name from the South Korean car maker’s electric fastback.
The first of these will be the Ioniq 5, a mid-sized crossover that takes its design cues from the Hyundai 45, the retro-inspired electric car concept based on Hyundai’s very first concept car, the 1974 Pony coupé.
Given the popularity of the Hyundai Kona Electric compact SUV – it is Australia’s second-most popular electric model – it’s not a long bow to draw that this is the Ioniq model that will make it to Australia first.
When it gets here, it will be the first electric model to bear the car maker’s new long range driving, high performance specs, and bidirectional charging platform that was unveiled in early December.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.