By: IOL Motoring Staff
Offenbach, Germany - The message from Hyundai is "Be afraid, Toyota, be very afraid," as it launches the hybrid Ioniq.
The Ioniq will premiere at the Geneva motor show in March and will go on sale during the second half of 2016 with a choice of three powertrains - a petrol-electric hybrid, a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid and a pure electric.
The hybrid variants have a specially developed direct-injection 1.6-litre four rated for 77kW at 5700 revs and 147Nm at 4000rpm, mated to a 32kW/170Nm electric motor. Combined output is quoted at 104kW and 265Nm in first, with 235Nm availabe in the higher gears, fed to the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch transmission that can be switched between Eco and Sport modes.
An all-new eco-driving assistant system checks out the route you've programmed into the satnav, analyses the traffic flow in real time and advises you how fast to drive and when to coast, for the most efficient battery charging by regenerative braking or the longest range when driving on electric power only.
The lithium-ion battery pack is under the rear seats - instead of the usual underfloor mounting - so as not to reduce either footwell or boot space. In fact, with the rear seats folded, cargo space expands to 750 litres.
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A seven inch, 1280 x 720 pixel colour display replaces the conventional instrument cluster, showing a range of digital gauges - speedometer, fuel level, drive mode, battery charge level, current system operation and status. The display and background colour changes according to which mode you've selected.
The Ioniq will come with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto installed, for seamless connectivity and control of music, telephone an navigation functions, as well as an inductive charging pad.
Standard safety kit includes blind sport detection with lane-change assist and rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, sounding an alarm and giving a visual warning before gently nudging the steering to move the car back on line.
Smart cruise control is also available, using radar sensors to maintain a constant distance from the car in front, but is automatically cancelled when your speed drops below 10km/h, so it won't work in stop/go traffic.