Even as other carmakers are trying to get rid of dirty combustion engines as soon as possible, Hyundai plans to keep them in stock in Europe until 2035. This doesn’t seem to prevent it from innovating on the EV front, either: the company is now working on an entry-level battery car for the Old World markets.
Hyundai Motor Europe CMO Andreas-Christoph Hofmann confirmed in an interview to Automotive News Europe that such a car was in development with the target retail price of €20,000.
The company already has the Ioniq 6 on the market (shown in our gallery here), as well as the Ioniq 5. The three-row Ioniq 7 SUV is slated to arrive in 2024 as a car primarily designed for the USA, but also available in Europe. Unlike these three models, the upcoming and still unnamed electric car is not going to be very profitable: according to Hofmann, the affordable segment never really is. This also explains why the wallet-friendly Hyundai EV had to wait until the Ioniq trio debuts and starts selling.
He also pointed out that the company intended to design and launch at least 11 emission-free vehicles before the end of the decade.