Hyundai’s entry-level electric hatchback is designed and engineered to crack the European market. Will it?
Ceci n’est pas un hatchback. According to its maker, at least.The Hyundai Ioniq 3 is also not a traditional supermini, nor a tiny crossover, but rather an ‘aero hatch’, which is to say it’s a low-slung, compact family runaround in the vein of the i20 but with a rakish, wedgy design that seeks to spear through the air as cleanly as possible for maximum cruising efficiency. The latest entrant into Hyundai’s growing family of bespoke electric cars – slotting in below the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9 – is also its smallest yet, and in many respects the harbinger of a completely new approach for EVs, setting the tone for a new design language, user interface and interior treatment that will ultimately be rolled out across the line-up.It’s most easily thought of as an electric alternative to the piston-powered i20 supermini, though the inherent packaging benefits of an EV skateboard platform mean its interior space is more on a par with the larger i30.
