The paint has barely dried on the Ioniq 6 but Hyundai is already willing to talk about potential ways of extending the lineup. In an interview with British magazine Auto Express, the automaker's chief designer was asked whether a more practical liftback derivative was ever considered as opposed to the traditional trunk lid. His answer was rather interesting: "I can make a great hatchback out of that; a shooting brake."
Hyundai's luxury division Genesis already has such a car in the G70 Shooting Brake. Originally developed for the European market, the swoopy wagon will also be released at home in South Korea. A potential Ioniq 6 Shooting Brake would likely have rear doors as well, therefore not fully meeting the shooting brake criteria. It's too soon to say whether it'll actually happen, especially since the regular Ioniq 6 was revealed mere hours ago.
Hyundai Ioniq 6 Design Debut
SangYup Lee went on to say Hyundai's Tesla Model 3 rival "would also make a great performance model." This seems highly plausible considering spy shots have shown an Ioniq 5 N is in the works. In addition, Kia already has the EV6 GT, so the E-GMP platform underpinning these dedicated electric cars was developed with performance in mind.
We'll remind you the EV6 GT has dual motors producing a combined 577 horsepower (430 kilowatts) and 546 pound-feet (740 Newton-meters) of torque. The spicy AWD-equipped crossover hits 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in only three and a half seconds and maxes out at 162 mph (260 km/h).
In the meantime, technical specifications of the regular Ioniq 6 will be disclosed in July. Logic tells us the most potent version available on launch will have roughly 300 hp from a pair of electric motors to mirror the Ioniq 5. There should also be a rear-wheel-drive, single-motor variant, while a 77.4-kWh battery pack has been mooted.
We do know the electric sedan has an impressively low drag coefficient of 0.21, which makes it one of the most aerodynamic series production cars ever, bested only by the Mercedes EQS (0.20 Cd). The Volkswagen XL1 was sleeker, at 0.19, but the futuristic-looking coupe was sold in extremely limited quantities as just 200 vehicles were ever made.
