Hyundai Motor’s latest electric vehicle is a sedan with a unique bubble design.
The South Korean automaker unveiled the Ioniq 6 on Wednesday night as an “electrified aerodynamic model,” a nod to its aerodynamic design, which Americans may know best through the Airstream trailer design. It’s a big change in styling from the well-received Ioniq 5 EV that went on sale earlier this year.
Hyundai currently sells the second largest electric car in the US after Tesla.
“Each Ioniq vehicle will have a different design character… we all want our designers to always connect with customers on an emotional level,” SangYup Lee, Hyundai’s executive vice president and head of design, said during a virtual media event.
Hyundai is expected to start production of the car at a factory in South Korea in the third quarter. It is scheduled to go on sale in the US in the first quarter of next year.
The price of the car has not been announced.
Hyundai expects the car to achieve 610 kilometers (380 miles) of range on a single charge, based on global standards. However, these testing standards differ from those in the US, meaning that US coverage will likely be different.
The car’s interior includes two 12-inch screens for driver information and entertainment.
The Ioniq 6 will be the third all-electric vehicle in the U.S. under the Hyundai brand, following the Kona and Ioniq 5 crossovers. The South Korean automaker also owns Kia, but the brands operate independently in the U.S.
Industry research firm LMC Automotive expects Hyundai, including Kia and its Genesis luxury brand, to sell the second most electric vehicles in the U.S. this year, behind only Tesla, which shipped more than 936,000 electric vehicles worldwide last year (the company is not cutting back on deliveries down by region).
In the first six months of the year, Automotive News reports, the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands sold a combined 34,518 EVs in the U.S. — behind Tesla’s sales, according to the report, but ahead of Ford Motor’s 22,979 EV sales.
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