- The Hyundai Ioniq V starts at $14,800 in China, under a limited-time promotion. The actual base price is closer to $16,500.
- That's a low price in China, beating some smaller cars.
- The Ioniq V uses CATL LFP battery and an 800-volt electrical architecture.
Hyundai is on a roll. Around the world, the brand has a series of stylish EV models on sale at affordable prices. Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side, but I often find myself frustrated at the fact that there are so many cool Hyundai EVs that we won’t ever get in the U.S. Case in point: the Hyundai Ioniq V.
When the car was revealed this year at the Beijing Auto show, its Prius-meets-Lamborghini styling stood out, even in a room of hyper-advanced Chinese models. And maybe that was the point. Hyundai's new strategy to turn around its China business starts with the Ioniq V, the first of a series of cars developed in China, for that market. Now it's on sale.
On Tuesday, Hyundai China officially launched the Ioniq V. At about $14,800, it's cheap—and not just by U.S. standards. Even in China, that's a very competitive price. Now, to be fair, that's a limited-time offer. Without that, the official price is around $16,500.
It's a lot of car for the money, too. The Ioniq V is a midsize car, roughly the same size as the gas-powered Hyundai Sonata. But its pricing is on par with compact or even subcompact EV models from Chinese brands. For example, it costs about as much as the compact BYD Dolphin.
It is powered by either a 188-horsepower or 225-horsepower motor turning the front wheels. The less powerful motor is fed by a CATL-sourced 53.5 kWh LFP battery, good for 335 miles (540 km) of estimated range. The larger motor is fed by a 66.8 kWh LFP battery, good for 404 miles (650 km). These numbers are both according to China’s generous CLTC cycle, so expect these ranges to drop if the Ioniq V ever leaves China. It does use Hyundai’s E-GMP 800-volt platform, but no charging times have been specified yet.
The Ioniq V has a full suite of driver-assistance features developed with China's Momenta. There’s an infotainment screen that takes up much of the Ioniq V’s width, running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P system-on-a-chip. This is fancy stuff for such a cheap car here in the U.S., but it's pretty common in China. While many foreign brands have lagged behind Chinese rivals, Hyundai is clearly trying to beat China at its own game, offering a feature-packed car at a budget price.
At the Beijing Auto Show in April, Hyundai CEO José Muñoz committed to staying in the Chinese market and said the company was "tripling down" on it. With such an aggressive pricing strategy for the Ioniq V—and a car that looks to match homegrown rivals on tech and value—it looks like this brand means business.
