Among the legacy automakers entering the world of EVs, few have consistently produced as many well-received EVs as Hyundai. Both the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 have garnered praise from experts and customers alike. The Ioniq range is set to expand in the coming years, and one of the most intriguing new vehicles in development is an entry-level model.
The Korean carmaker has been quite open about its intentions to launch an entry-level EV. In mid-2022, Hyundai Motor Europe’s head of marketing, Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, revealed the firm was working on a new affordable EV to rival the likes of the VW ID.2 and the forthcoming Skoda and Cupra versions of it. He added that the target for this vehicle will be a starting price of around €20,000 ($22,000).
Read: Hyundai Talks Next-Gen IMA EV Platform, New Batteries, And Electric Pickup
“Everybody in the industry knows the target of this kind of vehicle is 20,000 euros,” he told the Autonews Europe Congress in Prague.
So, what can we expect from this new Ioniq, potentially named the Ioniq 2? For starters, we know that it will be underpinned by the company’s second-generation EV platform, known as the Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA). This platform will replace the current Electric-Global Module Platform (E-GMP) used by the likes of the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60, and be used by 13 new decided EV models from the Hyundai Motor Group through 2030.
Hyundai has claimed the IMA platform represents a “significant advancement” over E-GMP and will be much cheaper thanks to greater economies of scale. IMA will also be very flexible and encompasses “nearly all vehicle classes, ranging from small and large SUVs to pickup trucks.” Hyundai has also confirmed it is working on advanced new Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries for its future EVs, although it remains to be seen which of these two chemistries the Ioniq 2 will adopt.
If the new model does indeed rival the VW ID.2, it will be much smaller than both the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. It is unclear what design direction the marque will take with the car, given how dramatically different the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 look. With that being said, we’d be very pleased if it does adopt some of the retro cues of the 5.
Note: The Carscoops rendering is off-the-record and unrelated to Hyundai.
