Bertone-inspired Hyundai Ioniq V priced from around £13k, but we’re not allowed it in the UK

Order books have opened for the new Hyundai Ioniq V, which was developed exclusively for the Chinese market with a starting price of 119,900 yuan – the equivalent of around £13,085.

The Ioniq V debuted as the wedgy ‘Venus’ concept car at this year’s Beijing motor show as part of Hyundai’s 20-car assault on the highly competitive Chinese EV market over the next five years.

“Tailored to local customers” and officially launched at the Chengdu motor show, the V adopts a completely different aesthetic inside and out from the rest of the Ioniq family, which has garnered plenty of favour with EV buyers at home in South Korea and around the world.

The Ioniq V pursues neither the retro design theme adopted by the Ioniq 5, nor Hyundai’s new, boxy ‘Art of Steel’ design language. Instead, it boasts a wedgy Bertone-style single-curve profile, along with a forward-mounted cabin, chunky wheel arches, and slim LED running lights.

The Ioniq V’s cabin, meanwhile, ditches most physical switchgear in favour of a dash-wide, 27-inch 4K infotainment screen running on two Chinese AI models from Baidu and ByteDance. Chinese ADAS specialists Momenta developed the ADAS system and the Ioniq V’s CyberEye heads-up display system.

The rest of the China-only Ioniq models are expected to adopt a similar exterior design and tech-heavy, “premium feel” approach to their cabins at launch. Alongside the entry-level £13k car, the Hyundai Ioniq V will be offered in mid-tier trim priced from 129,900 yuan (around £14,000), and a flagship model starting at 129,900 yuan (around £15,250).

The Hyundai Ioniq V is available with two battery choices: a 53.5kWh unit, or a 66.8kWh unit. The smaller pack is paired with a 185bhp electric motor, and can travel up to 330 miles on a single charge. The bigger is mated to a 222bhp electric motor, and has a 390-mile range. Note, however, that the figures were quoted by the Chinese CLTC efficiency cycle, which tends to be more lenient than the European WLTP system.

Riding on the same 800V electric architecture as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Ioniq 6, the V is expected to have a similar 10%-80% charge time of 18 minutes and a maximum fast-charging speed of 350kW.

Built in Beijing at a factory operated as a joint venture between Chinese automotive giant BAIC and Hyundai, the Ioniq V is the first model to come from Seoul’s ‘in China, for China’ plan, which is the opposite strategy of what Chinese firms Zeekr and BYD are now pursuing in Europe. Here, Chinese carmakers are adapting their models to European consumer tastes as they seek to gain further traction against more traditional brands.