Hyundai today teased a new car that will compete head on with the Toyota Prius. It’s called the Ioniq — and it even looks a bit like the Prius, as least as much of it as we can see in the teaser image above.
Hyundai teases Ioniq, its upcoming Prius competitor
It will come in three flavors — hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric-only. Hyundai points out that this is the first time all three green powertrain options will be available in a car. That doesn’t matter much to buyers who will buy one of the three, but it is a more efficient use of Hyundai’s R&D dollars to combine them all into one platform rather than building a separate, hugely expensive platform just for EV.
Specifics on the Ioniq are scarce at the moment but Hyundai says it will have great fuel economy and a “fun, responsive drive and attractive design.” The all-electric version will use lithium ion batteries (like the new Prius and Tesla’s various offerings), but no word on the plug-in and hybrid versions.
The name, which Hyundai styles IONIQ, is a combination of “ion” (an electrically charged atom, a nod to its batteries) and “unique.” It will launch in Korea next month and debut in March at the Geneva and New York auto shows.
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