Hyundai's next electric vehicle for the United States will be the Ioniq 9, a rugged three-row SUV that will be built at the company's factory in Georgia, Hyundai executives announced today. An investor day conference this week.
It's a sign that as other automakers continue to reconsider their investments in electric vehicles amid slowing demand, the South Korean automaker intends to increase its share of the plug-in vehicle market by introducing new vehicles in popular segments.
The Ioniq 9 will be built at the same Ellabel, Georgia-based Metaplant where the company will soon begin producing the Ioniq 5. (Assembling EVs in the U.S., rather than South Korea, will help qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.)
Hyundai intends to increase its share of the plug-in vehicle market
During the conference, Hyundai Motor President and CEO Jae Hoon Chang said a production version of the Ioniq 9 will be shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this year. according Inside EVs.
Hyundai also said it would increase the proportion of hybrids in its lineup, in an acknowledgement that American consumers are currently more inclined to buy them than a full electric vehicle. Hyundai says the North American market in particular faces a shortage of hybrids, which it aims to address.
The Concept Seven was advertised as being able to charge from 10 to 80 percent in about 20 minutes, with a range of “more than 300 miles.” But during the investor day event, Hyundai executives explored developing extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs, to provide even more range than that. Some EREVs, such as the BMW i3 and Chevy Volt, use small gasoline engines to recharge the battery pack, but not to run the motors.
Hyundai executives theorized that they could produce EREVs with a range of more than 900 km, or 560 miles, when fully charged, according to Inside electric vehicles.
The Seven was one of the largest concepts we've seen from the South Korean automaker, with a 10-foot wheelbase — longer than the Cadillac Escalade. The extra-tall grille also puts this concept firmly in the “dangerously large” group of vehicles that includes the Escalade and other large SUVs and pickup trucks.
