Hyundai Motor Launches its First Electric Sedan to Compete with Tesla

Hyundai Motor launched its first electric sedan to capture a larger share of the electric vehicle market dominated by Tesla

SEOUL:
Hyundai Motor Co on Thursday launched its first electric sedan, the Ioniq 6, which the South Korean automaker is betting will help it capture a larger share of the electric vehicle (EV) market dominated by Tesla Inc.

The Ioniq 6 is one of more than 31 electric models Hyundai Motor Group, including Hyundai Motor, sister company Kia Corp and luxury brand Genesis, plans to deliver by 2030 to secure a projected 12% share of the global electric vehicle market.

Hyundai Sedan will expand its range of electric vehicles beyond existing crossovers and SUVs to compete head-to-head with Tesla’s best-selling Model 3 sedan.

Hyundai and Kia were already the second largest electric vehicle chargers in the world, excluding China, in January-May this year, with a combined market share of 13.5% which was second only to Tesla with 22 %, according to industry tracker SNE Research.

The Ioniq 6 will be priced between 55 million won ($41,949.51) and 65 million won for the South Korean market.

“The Ioniq 6 will be able to compete with Tesla in the high-volume sedan segment given its competitive price and long driving range,” said Lee Jae-il, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.

He added that the Ioniq 6 could benefit from its price in the sedan market because Tesla raised prices several times.

Hyundai said Hyundai’s electric sedan has a range of about 610 kilometers (380 miles), 30% more than the Ioniq 5 crossover.

“We used the same cell (battery) chemistry but… we maximized the number of batteries per pack, which greatly boosted energy density,” said Kim Young-wha, executive vice president of Hyundai.

Hyundai said it will come with two battery pack options, 53 kWh and 77.4 kWh, and will start production at the Asan plant in South Korea later this year.

He added that the IONIQ-6 will be available in South Korea this year and is expected to launch in the US market in the first quarter of next year.

Hyundai said the Ioniq 6 launched this year will launch batteries from SK On’s SK Innovation and use LG Energy Solution batteries from next year.

The launch comes after Hyundai announced plans to build dedicated electric vehicle plants in the US, with the Ioniq 5 and Kia EV 6 SUV together becoming the second best-selling electric vehicle after Tesla and ahead of the Mustang Match by Ford Motor Co.-MI. ($1 = 1,311.1000 won)

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