Hyundai has scrapped plans to bring its new Ioniq 3 electric hatchback to Australia, just months after opening registrations of interest for what was expected to become one of the brand’s most important new EVs.
The Driven understands the Ioniq 3 will no longer be launched in Australia, with Hyundai conceding that the numbers simply do not stack up in an increasingly cut-throat market for affordable electric cars.
Hyundai has also quietly removed the Ioniq 3 registration page from its Australian website. The page, which had described the car as “coming soon” and invited Australian customers to register their interest, now redirects to Hyundai’s general model line-up, where the Ioniq 3 is conspicuously absent.
A Hyundai spokesperson confirmed to The Driven that the decision ultimately came down to cost.
“The business case is just too difficult given we need to source Ioniq 3 from Turkey,” the spokesperson said.
“The cost of importation is high and the car will be fighting in a very price-sensitive segment. The numbers just don’t work for us given the competition.”
It is a significant reversal for Hyundai, which had been preparing to bring the compact electric hatchback to Australia in the first half of 2027.
Only in August, The Driven reported that UK pricing suggested the Ioniq 3 could potentially have landed in Australia for somewhere below $40,000, giving Hyundai another entrant at the increasingly important affordable end of the EV market. But that end of the market has changed remarkably quickly.
BYD last month slashed the price of its entry-level Atto 1 Essential to just $19,990 driveaway, making an electric car the cheapest new car of any fuel type in Australia. BYD also cut the price of the Dolphin to a nationwide drive-away price of $28,888. Geely’s EX2 starts from $26,490 before on-road costs, while GAC’s Aion UT is available from around $31,990 driveaway.
Even Hyundai’s own smaller Inster has been discounted to $35,990 driveaway, while Honda has just launched the diminutive Super-ONE at $36,900 driveaway.
Against that backdrop, importing a European-focused EV all the way from Turkey and attempting to price it competitively in Australia was evidently a bridge too far. The decision is particularly disappointing because the Ioniq 3 looked like being one of the more compelling small electric cars on the horizon.
Designed primarily for Europe, the compact five-seat hatch made its global debut in April and entered production at Hyundai’s İzmit plant in Turkey in August – the first battery electric vehicle to be produced at the facility.
Depending on specification, it offers up to 497 kilometres of WLTP driving range and features Hyundai’s new Pleos Connect infotainment system, along with vehicle-to-load, Plug & Charge and an integrated EV route planner.
Its combination of relatively compact dimensions and long driving range appeared particularly well suited to an Australian EV market still dominated by SUVs and where genuinely affordable electric hatchbacks remain comparatively rare.
Instead, the Ioniq 3 becomes another small electric car developed principally for Europe that Australians will watch from afar. And the reason is perhaps more revealing than the cancellation itself.
For years, one of the biggest questions surrounding electric cars in Australia was whether manufacturers could get prices low enough to attract mainstream buyers.
The arrival of aggressively priced Chinese EVs means established brands are increasingly confronting the opposite problem: whether they can get their own costs low enough to compete.
For the Ioniq 3, Hyundai has decided the answer is no.
You can find The Driven’s detailed EV sales data here: Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2026; by model and by brand.
And you can sign up for The Driven’s free daily newsletter and get the latest EV news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox.
