Hyundai and Kia make among the finest electrical autos accessible as we speak, and many of the fashions they promote are based mostly across the similar E-GMP devoted EV platform. That setup brings excessive vary, quick charging instances and even a powerful diploma of efficiency. Nevertheless, although they’re all mechanically fairly comparable, gross sales of the E-GMP automobiles differ fairly dramatically from mannequin to mannequin.
One among our favorites in Hyundai’s U.S. lineup is the Ioniq 6, a streamlined sedan that appears like nothing else on the street. Its mixture of a brilliant slippery physique with a really low 0.21 drag coefficient and the effectivity of its 800-volt structure give it unmatched effectivity permitting it to journey as much as 361 miles on one cost.
It’s one of many coolest and most compelling EVs you should buy as we speak. And we’ll most likely just like the upcoming Ioniq 6 N scorching model much more if it’s infused with among the character of the ludicrous Ioniq 5 N.
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Nevertheless, it appears the Ioniq 6 is simply not hanging a chord with patrons.
It was Hyundai’s worst-selling EV in September, with a 64% drop in gross sales in comparison with the identical month final 12 months. Simply 599 have been delivered final month, which is extra unhealthy information after a 51% dip in August too.
Ioniq 6 gross sales obtained off to a terrific begin after it launched final 12 months, however they appear to be shedding momentum. Even with the weaker gross sales efficiency in August and September, year-to-date gross sales are nonetheless up on final 12 months, with 9,097 autos delivered up to now in 2024 versus 8,318 in 2023. Its Q3 numbers have been additionally down this 12 months in comparison with 2023, with a 57% lower from 5,073 to 2,185 items offered.
Whereas we are able to attribute a few of this to Hyundai’s traditionally poor sedan gross sales, each of its combustion sedans, the Elantra and the Sonata, did higher in August of this 12 months in comparison with 2023. Gross sales have been up 28% and 75% on these, respectively, and the constructive efficiency was maintained by September. It’s not so simple as saying patrons are transferring away from sedans solely as a result of they need a higher-riding automobile.
There’s additionally the obvious drop in demand for electrical autos to think about, particularly ones with three-box our bodies. The Ioniq 6’s taller cousin, the Ioniq 5, has been promoting persistently higher. Thus far in 2024, it has offered 30,318 autos in comparison with 25,306 in 2023, a 20% improve year-over-year.
However finally, the Ioniq 6 suffers for being a sedan in a crossover-crazed market. Whereas some patrons nonetheless want the four-door household automobile setup, they’re more and more few and much between. Even gross sales of stalwarts just like the Honda Accord are a shadow of what they have been in a long time previous. So the Ioniq 6 could be ignored for what it’s—however that is a tragedy, since it is also one of many longest-range, best-driving EVs you should buy.