Hyundai’s new all-electric family hauler will make its formal debut in the coming weeks.
Three years ago, Hyundai teased a three-row family SUV based around its Ioniq sub-brand called the Seven Concept. Now, we’re nearing the actual reveal for the production model, though it’s not, as we thought at the time (and based on Hyundai’s even earlier roadmap) called the Ioniq 7. Instead, the SUV Hyundai’s teasing Wednesday morning is the Ioniq 9, imaginatively leaving a gap in the segment for another midsize, two-row SUV in due time.
So, what do we know about the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 9? Not much with certainty, actually, as the automaker has been relatively quiet about what’s coming down the pike beyond its existing Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 models. We know it will, like most of the brand’s other modern EVs, ride on the E-GMP platform and share a good deal of its styling with 2021’s Seven Concept.
Naturally, much like with the Kia EV9, we’ll see Hyundai dial back some of the less practical styling elements for the actual production version. This is, after all, a family SUV. Nevertheless, Hyundai says to expect a spacious ‘Aerosthetic’ design combining an aerodynamic focus with a “spacious and comfortable” interior.
We don’t have much else in the way of tactile information at the moment, but there’s a fair to good chance we can cheat a bit and glean what’s likely coming from its similarly proportioned cousin, the Kia EV9. That model essentially comes in two main flavors across its four trims: A single, rear-motor variant with 215 horsepower and about 230 miles of range thanks to a 76.1-kWh battery, or a dual-motor Long Range model with 379 horsepower, a 99.8-kWh pack and about 280 miles of range.
Now, Hyundai initially promised more than 300 miles with the concept, so we’ll have to see if that actually holds true for the retail SUV. The Kia EV9, for its part, does technically have a 304-mile variant in the Light Long Range, which couples that big battery with a relatively weak 201-horsepower, rear-wheel drive motor configuration. It’s also worth noting specs could be different for the Hyundai Ioniq 9 across the board, though probably not by a huge margin based off the brand’s similarly related models (i.e. the Hyundai Ioniq 5/Kia EV6, Kia Sorento/Hyundai Santa Fe, and so on).
Hyundai says it will roll out several more teasers over the coming days before the actual reveal sometime in November. The company did not specify a date at this point, but whenever we see teasers like this it’s safe to assume we’ll see the big reveal in a few weeks’ time.