Three years ago, when Hyundai presented the Seven concept in Los Angeles, there was talk of a taste of what in the electric world of the Korean company would soon be an imposing Ioniq 7, to be placed alongside the already existing Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. But that exercise in style and design was so successful that Seven became Nine. Here is the Ioniq 9, Hyundai’s flagship EV, the SUV that Simon Loasby does not hesitate to define as “our most important car in terms of size, refinement, purity and simplicity.” In short, in chess language, “our king.”
From concept to production
Loasby is responsible for Hyundai styling, right-hand man to SangYup Lee who is in charge of the group’s global design. To Auto&Design, three years ago, he explained that the mathematical character of the surfaces made the Seven concept a “Teutonic” car. “It follows,” he explains today, “that Ioniq 9 is also Teutonic. Speaking to WooHyun Leee, one of the exterior designers on this project, I said that we had managed to keep at least 90 percent of the spirit of Seven. And he said, ‘No, 99 percent.’ There is no doubt that of the three EVs in the Ioniq group, this is the one that has changed the least in the transition from concept to production.”
Three important philosophical blocks
The most important thing, according to Loasby, is that all Ioniqs have the same three philosophical building blocks: the right approach to sustainability and materials, the largest interior space in the segment thanks to the longest wheelbase, the design that Hyundai calls “parametric pixel” for the headlights and other details. “The typology of the various models can change,” he says, “like different chess pieces, but each responds to the needs of a group of customers. Ioniq 9 is a large car, 5.06 metres, even if from the outside it does not look threatening and appears approachable. But inside it is enormous, a bit like the Tardis from the TV series ‘Dr. Who’ that from the outside is a 2-square-metre police box, but inside is an entire space station.”
Interiors at the heights of luxury
The first sketches were drawn by Hyundai’s three design centres in Europe, the United States, and Namyang. Finally a sketch by WooHyun Lee, of the Namyang design centre in Korea, was selected. Based on that final sketch, the Seven concept car was developed and, finally, Ioniq 9 was designed by WooHyun Lee and HyungSoo Lee. The European studio, on the other hand, contributed to the last – Nico Munkler and Raphael Bretecher – to the interiors that reach the heights of luxury that are inevitable for a car that has many claims: the fully reclining seats with leg rests (the second row seats swivel to form a lounge with the third row), the central console that slides backwards when necessary, the ecological and recycled materials, the curved panoramic display with two screens in a dashboard that couldn’t be more linear.
“Aerosthetic” silhouette
Based on the E-GMP platform (Electric-Global Modular Platform) already used for the other Ioniqs and suitably elongated, the Ioniq 9 is, despite its large size, a small aerodynamic miracle for an SUV (the Cx is 0.259). Which, depending on the powertrain configuration, guarantees a range of up to 620 km. Loasby believes this is due to the car’s “unique” profile, with a short bonnet, a very sloping windshield, the highest point of the roof above the second row of seats, the truncated tail (“like a boat”) after the third row, in a silhouette that designers call “Aerosthetic”.
Simplicity and purity
And let’s not forget the light clusters. The ones at the front are entrusted to the pixels so dear to Hyundai designers. So Korean: small squares that, in the alphabet introduced by King Sejong in 1446, are equivalent to our letter “M” and that, arranged in a variety of compositions, have now become a recognizable style detail of the Ioniq series. But it’s not the only mark of Koreanness. “On the side,” Loasby points out, “the crease on the belt coming from the front wing rises by 45 degrees when it reaches the rear: like the classic hanbok, the elegant Korean formal dress where the collar is formed by a long diagonal line that covers another smaller one, also diagonal. Simplicity and purity, as SangYup Lee himself always preaches.”
(Full article in A&D no. 270)
