Hyundai Motor has launched its first electric sedan, Ioniq 6, in its home base South Korea, to make a place in an electric vehicle market dominated by Tesla.
The sedan version of Ioniq has 30 percent more driving range than its predecessor — about 610 kilometres (380 miles), Hyundai said.
The company's new EV will be available in two battery pack options — 53 kWh and 77.4 kWh. The car has a wheelbase of 2,950 mm and measures 4,855 mm in length and 1,880 mm in width.
In the first look, the car is seen equipped with a 12-inch infotainment unit, equipped with both type A and type c ports, and support for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The launch comes after Hyundai announced its plans to build dedicated EV plants both at home and in the US, where the Ioniq 5 and Kia's EV 6 SUV together became the second-best selling EVs after Tesla cars and ahead of Ford Motor's Mustang Mach-E.
"We are using the same (battery) cell chemistry but we maximise the number of batteries per pack, enhancing energy density significantly," said Kim Yong Wha, an executive vice president at Hyundai.
Hyundai Motor, its sister company Kia Corp and premium brand Genesis plan to introduce more than 31 electric models by 2030 and secure a projected 12 percent of the global EV market. The Ioniq 6 is one of those cars.
To compete with Tesla, Hyundai's sedan is expected to expand its EV range beyond its current crossovers and SUVs.
Hyundai and Kia together accounted for 13.5 percent of the EVs shipped globally in the January-May period this year after Tesla which has 22 percent share in the same period, according to industry tracker SNE Research. The data excludes China, the world's biggest auto market.
The South Korean automaker plans to start its manufacturing in the Asan plant by the year's end. US sales are planned to begin from early next year.
