Hyundai Ioniq 9 electric SUV is here, and it comes with

Our commitment to electric vehicles

The advantage of the EV9, a large vehicle with a large wheelbase, is that its cabin is as big as you’d expect. Yes, this is a 3-row full-size SUV, but it’s its spacious cabin that will surprise you. The second-row captain’s chairs swivel 180 degrees, providing true lounge seating – if your market regulations allow it.

But if they do, the cabin’s sheer size, huge greenhouse and panoramic sunroof, combined with the soft tones inside the cabin, really give the Ioniq 9 a lounge-on-wheels feel that we’ve had since its inception It has been promising electric cars ever since.

So, how did we get here?

The question is, how do modern designers actually unlock all this cabin space? The answer is that they do it in a very clever way. You see, traditional good design means that a large car must have certain attributes that give it a cohesive shape—it must have a long hood to symbolize strength, and the A-pillars should extend to the centerline of the body. The front wheel should be symmetrical and the front and rear overhangs should be tight and compact to maintain a balanced posture. But Hyundai’s designers threw all those conventions out the window.

They took the bonnet and reduced its size – despite the fact that in addition to a 620-litre boot, there’s a small luggage compartment (front trunk) in front of it. They moved the A-pillar forward to provide maximum room for the cabin, and angled the windshield at such a steep angle that it retains a fairly smooth profile. They taper the tail to create a boattail and a broad haunch, while giving it a sense of muscle and elegance. So much so that the Ioniq 9 belies its size and looks very clean and inviting. There’s certainly no contradiction at all, and you might have expected the designers to throw the rulebook out the window. But the idea is to free up a huge amount of space in the cabin, so the car doesn’t entirely lose the term “lounge-like interior space.”

Pixel

As with the Ioniq 5 and 6 before it, the vehicle’s defining feature is the Pixel – the retro yet modern dot matrix light signature that is at the heart of the modern electric car range. Personally, I absolutely love the Pixel, so I’m happy that it’s not only being retained, but that it’s more popular than ever.

Especially on the front end, the pixels are perfectly integrated into an extremely clean and minimalist design. Simon Loasby, Hyundai’s head of design, said the design symbolized “beauty and botox” and that “reduction is more difficult than luxury”. Well, hard or not, he did succeed.

Also read: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is an electric car that simulates the ICE driving experience

Another design goal was to make the car look approachable rather than intimidating due to its size, and they succeeded in that regard as well. They also worked to make it as aerodynamically efficient as possible, so much so that the Ioniq 9 doesn’t even have a shark fin antenna on its roof. As a result, the Ioniq 9 with side-view cameras instead of rear-view mirrors has a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.259, about the same as a small car, while models with traditional side-view mirrors still have a slim Cd of .269.

soothing cabin

The cabin continues the clean, minimalist design language from the outside. The overall design of this machine is smart and subtle. All of the technology inside is integrated seamlessly into this lounge-like cabin without being overwhelming in your face. The curved screen makes up the 12-inch instrument panel and 12-inch infotainment display. Fortunately, Hyundai has also given the Ioniq 9 its due buttons and hasn’t insisted on controlling everything via a touchscreen – I imagine other manufacturers will rely less on touchscreens in the future.

The surfaces are soft and the shapes are rounded – even sculpted – and Simon says they were inspired by shapes in nature, such as pebbles deformed by river water.

attention to detail

Hyundai has put a lot of effort into soundproofing, especially for large electric cars. The door seals are triple-insulated, there’s laminated acoustic glass, all the motors themselves are fully insulated, there’s active noise cancellation in the cabin, and there’s even foam in the tires to reduce road noise.

Ioniq 9 is built on the Hyundai E-GMP platform and is equipped with a 110.3 kWh battery with a WLTP range of 620 kilometers (for RWD long-range models). Using a 350 kW charger, it can be charged from 10-80% in just 24 minutes. The Long Range RWD model is equipped with a 160 kW rear motor and can accelerate from 100 kilometers to 100 kilometers in 9.4 seconds. The Long Range AWD model has an extra 70 kW motor mounted at the front, enabling it to sprint to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds, while the Performance model has two 170 kW motors, giving it a 0-100km/h time of 5.2 Second.

This year, Hyundai produced its 100 millionth vehicle, a milestone that would have been impossible to achieve without long-term vision and determination. Hyundai aims to sell two million electric vehicles by 2030, and the Ioniq 9 will be key to achieving that goal, so it’s vital for the company that the Ioniq 9 follows in the footsteps of its award-winning sibling.

Also read: Hyundai Santa Fe, Ioniq 5 N driving in South Korea, new era of Hyundai cars!

The Ioniq 9 will be available in the West and South Korea in 2025, but there are no plans to bring it to India yet, so if you like what you see, you’d better start lobbying your local Hyundai dealers and hope for the best result……