Hyundai quietly reopens order books for Ioniq 5 electric crossover

Word is that South Korean carmaker Hyundai quietly reopened the order page for its award-winning Ioniq 5 electric crossover on Friday, apparently hoping to offload a small number of leftover vehicles.

The Ioniq 5 was met with huge enthusiasm when it first went on sale in Australia in October 2021.

Fuelled by features like bi-directional vehicle-to-load charging, a spacious interior and a funky exterior design, a tranche of 240 cars sold out within hours, as drivers keen to get their hands on one clambered to get through the order process before the inventory ran out.

Those who were successful rejoiced, but many had their enthusiasm dampened as the order page closed again, or their postcode wasn’t included in the allocation.

A second allocation in December was met with the same enthusiasm – and disappointment – as 100 or so vehicles quickly sold out. A third similarly sized tranche in March also sold out in less than seven minutes.

A fourth tranche then went on sale in May – and again saw drivers either frustrated or left being “creative” with their postcodes in a bid to secure an order. Again, orders were filled within minutes.

All the above allocations were announced by Hyundai via email to interested parties with pre-registrations.

The latest vehicles, however, simply went on sale on Friday with no notice at all to potential customers. One driver happened to notice and posted the fact on a Facebook Ioniq 5 group, saying, “The Ioniq 5 order page is live now with what looks like a handful of leftover cars – e.g. only RWD in Victoria in white or grey. ”

By Saturday morning, all were gone except for, it appears, a Galactic Grey two-wheel-drive model that is only available to those with a Perth postcode.

But likely, not for long. As The Driven’s Riz Akhtar has reported, appetite for the electric crossover has been so high it has seen low mileage Ioniq 5s sell secondhand well above the new asking price.

The Driven has contacted Hyundai to find out more about the latest allocation and further tranches, and will update this article if more info comes to hand.