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Did a pair of big, boxy and brash SUVs aimed at conservative middle America pave the way for a chic yet green and ultra-efficient electric SUV flagship?
According to the Hyundai Design Centre Senior Vice President Simon Loasby, the existence of the Santa Fe and its larger and wider Palisade stablemate meant the team behind the new Ioniq 9 could be stylistically more creative and daring, especially as the demographic for EVs is different.
“The reason we can be have such a streamlined elegance that is not typical (of other SUVs) is because we have a Palisade and a Santa Fe,” he told CarsGuide.
“[With the EV] we didn't need to do another [Santa Fe or Palisade] if it's the same as those. What is the mindset of the EV customer? What is the efficiency mindset? What is the sustainability mindset? Therefore, we can create (the Ioniq 9) as it gives us, I would say, a bit of freedom to go away from the norm, because we already have really good three-row normal SUVs.
“You can take more risks, in a way… to create something more unique… and maybe that's a benefit.”
Coming in May from under $100,000 it is inspired by the blue-sky newness that the original Range Rover of 1970 embodied as the world’s first modern SUV. The Ioniq 9 came about after proposals from three of Hyundai’s global studios – Korea, North America and Europe — with the former’s Namyang-based entry being chosen.
Achieving ground-breaking aerodynamics without resorting to teardrop shapes, which is critical to any EV, meant the learnings from the brand’s own Ioniq 6 sedan were also applied. The slipperiest model manages a coefficient rating of just 0.26 – an outstanding feat for a five-metre-plus SUV that is closer to a box than a blob.
The Ioniq 9’s design has remained close to the 2021 Hyundai 7 Concept car that resulted, especially in the aero-prioritising silhouette that rises up in a gentle arc over the B-pillar, before it tapers back and inward to create a kind of ‘boat tail’ look, as well as with the adoption of Hyundai’s darling parametric pixels for the LED lighting.
“As the 7 Concept was being developed, this was being developed at the same time,” Loasby explained. “There was no wait time afterwards. So, really, there was very little mismatch, because we knew what it meant to us and we were very clearly focused on this as our theme. Honestly there was little difficulty.
“Our biggest challenge as designers though is always to have that fundamental proportion of overhangs, wheelbase, wheel size… and those discussions went on as we extended the wheelbase to improving it closer to the 7 Concept, which really helped interior space.”
One of the more controversial aspects of the Hyundai EV SUV are the wheel arch cladding, which serves the dual purpose of breaking up the visual height and body volume in that area, while also closing off the air gap around the wheels, which in turn cuts drag by a significant amount.
Again, aero efficiency is everything.
So, what is the Hyundai design boss’ favourite aspect of his big new three-row EV SUV?
“The side view roof line,” Loasby revealed. “As it accelerates and then cascades down.”
Loasby added that the challenge of getting his team of designers to achieve the perfect shape was an entirely different level of satisfaction that will always stay with him.
“That tuning, that line, and walking through the [design] studio, just seeing how even small changes put the accent in the wrong place,” he said. “It was just wonderful in remembering the simplicity of the maths of the curve.
"And that was really, really challenging. I remember many years ago in an interview with a designer saying that he could see, like, a one-millimetre movement, and I thought, ‘yeah, right’. But with this car, I would walk in [during the design phase] and ‘there’s too much tension in this or too much tension with that, or that the tension needs to be a bit further forward.
“It was just that kind of discussion that was what was this such a fun car to work on. And it's like, ‘bloody hell, now I'm doing that, I'm now seeing a 1mm difference… I can and that's, I guess, one of those things where, if you don't notice, because it just sits there and it just it works, then I guess we've done okay.”
Finally, Loasby added that, by having a trio of large three-row SUVs in the Santa Fe, Palisade and now the Ioniq 9, Hyundai is actually hedging its bets in an uncertain future for EVs – and that this ultimately mitigates the risk of failure.
“We're very fortunate in Hyundai,” he said.
“We have hydrogen fuel cell, we have full battery electric, we have hybrid, we have internal combustion engine… we’ve got a good bandwidth there that we can we can steer or guide according to how times change.”
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