Hyundai has unveiled a concept car at the Munich motor show which previews a new, smaller model in its Ioniq EV range.
The Concept Three – expected to herald a car badged Ioniq 3 – measures 4,287mm in length, and according to Hyundai marks the Ioniq sub-brand’s entry into a new vehicle category, alongside its mid-size (Ioniq 5) and large (Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9) models.
The Concept Three was described at a media unveiling of the concept prior to the Munich show, by company senior vice president and head of Hyundai’s design centre Simon Loasby, as being “80% ready for production”.
The concept features a coupe-style fastback roofline – although Hyundai Europe chief designer Eduardo Ramirez said that to preserve rear passenger headroom, the roof did not begin to slope down until it was behind the passenger compartment, with the windows sloping down more than the roofline to add to the fastback effect.
Practicality is also boosted by the retention of a vertical tailgate, while other exterior design elements include parametric pixel lighting front and rear.
The concept’s interior features ‘widgets’ behind the steering wheel in place of a conventional display, featuring vehicle functions which can be brought closer to the driver when in use – and although this arrangement is unlikely to make production, Loasby said the principles of having information close to the driver’s eyeline and keeping physical controls would be retained for the final car.
Hyundai UK president Ashley Andrew told Business Car that he expected the production version of the Concept Three to be an important model for fleet, and also to complement, rather than compete with, Hyundai’s Kona Electric compact electric SUV.
He said: “Obviously [Concept Three is] more of your classic car bodystyle, so it’s kind of a coupe, conventional car bodystyle. Whereas Kona is clearly an SUV.
“So, you’ve got different customers who will look for those different bodystyles. You get people who like SUVs because they like the higher seating position, and [Concept Three] being very, very much more a conventional kind of coupe car, I think it’ll sit alongside [the Kona] and they’ll complement each other.”
