SEOUL — Just how slippery is Hyundai's new Ioniq 6 electric vehicle?
The four-door fastback sedan has the same platform and long-range powertrain as the Ioniq 5 compact crossover. But the Ioniq 6 will get a big boost in battery range — thanks mostly to its super sleek, air-shedding silhouette.
In fact, the Ioniq 6 is the most aerodynamic vehicle ever produced by Hyundai Motor. It achieves a 0.21 drag coefficient, compared with 0.29 for the Ioniq 5, which landed this year.
Hyundai is loath to label the Ioniq 6 a mere sedan. To its designers, the jelly bean-shaped EV is a "streamliner," a name that harks back to the rounded styles pioneered in the 1930s.
The rear-wheel-drive version with the 77.4-kilowatt-hour battery achieves a range of 381 miles (631 km) under the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure cycle. That's a jump from the 315-mile range of the Ioniq 5.
The Ioniq 6's pinched-off boat-tail aerodynamics are absolutely key to its eking out more miles.
"The most improvement resulted from a decrease in air resistance," Hyundai global design chief Simon Loasby said of the Ioniq 6 at a late September drive event here.
"It takes our customer farther on a single charge."