Hyundai is opening a new sales window for another 100 of its multi-award winning Ioniq 5 electric crossover this week, as the company and others report a surge in interest in EVs from car customers.
The next sales offering for the Ioniq 5 – which has a range of well over 400kms, and vehicle-to-load technologies – will be held this Wednesday, but only to customers who have pre-registered. It will add to the 336 Ioniq 5s already ordered in Australia, with around 50 still to be delivered.
Competition for the new sales window will be fierce. There are around 16,000 customers who are pre-registered and who will be sent invitations. The first time it occurred last year, the system crashed.
Delivery times, according to a Hyundai spokesman, will be around three months. That’s a pretty quick turnaround in the current circumstances, given that Tesla has already warned of nine-month waits for the Model 3, which remains the best selling EV in Australia, and other companies report more significantly more demand than supply.
Kia, for instance, says it could sell 10 times its Australian allocation of 500 EV6 if supply was not a problem, and Volvo already has 1,500 orders for its XC40, significantly more than what is available in the local market.
The Hyundai sales window will be open at 1pm for customers in the eastern states and South Australia. Again, it is expected to be keenly sought.
In the recent offerings, some customers were disappointed that there was no opportunity for buyers in regional centres, and again the focus is on capital cities. Even the ACT is included in the Sydney drop. Hyundai hope to change that soon, if the supply of new Ioniq 5s increases.
Customers can register their interest here, The cars are allocated on a fast come, first served basis.
Find out more about the Ioniq 5 – the latest stories, and reviews – through our EV Models page here
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.