I've been watching YouTube review videos about the Ioniq 5 for the last couple of months. Most of them are from either Europe or South Korea. It is nice to see, but the US spec will probably much different. In late May, there was a few US reviews from Doug DeMuro, MotoManTV, Kelly Blue Book and probably others. These were all done in a studio with a car that didn't look like it was the final product. Hyundai probably didn't even drive the car to the studio. This weekend I saw a couple of YouTube review videos where the Ioniq 5 had a California dealer license plate! This is interesting to me as it suggest the release is coming soon if press cars have license plates, vs the car in the May review videos with no license plate. What do you all think?
I saw both of those and am hopeful the Ioniq5 is coming soon. I did notice the car in the video has the panoramic sun roof which I assume makes it the limited trim but the rear seat had manual adjustment. I asked on one of the videos if it was a pre-production vehicle and he responded that he thought it was but wasn't expecting and changes for a production model. We'll see
Is Hyundai still trying to decide what trim options will be offered in the US? Are these decisions being made in South Korea without any input from company employees on this side of the ocean? Can we track down the members of the focus groups who told Hyundai people don't want fancy seats, heat pumps, etc? We want them to explain themselves. What? There were no focus groups? Perhaps there were focus groups but their opinions were ignored. I can understand profit-related reasons not to offer a "stripper" Ioniq 5 at the bottom of the trim hierarchy--even though it could trigger national BEV purchasing incentives. Such a model could eliminate "luxury" items such as a rear wiper (/s). However, what reasons could Hyundai have for not offering a "full-boat" model in North America that would maximize their profits and include the options for which many on this forum are clamoring? What reasons could Hyundai have for delaying the release of US specs so long after deliveries have begun elsewhere?
@Will DaBeast, I saw either on this forum or some other forum, someone broke down all the features that the European and South Korean cars have that the NA cars will not have. On the list was that the NA cars will get manual rear seat adjustment. Also on the list was no solar roof for NA cars and many other things. I hope what I saw was wrong, but seeing the video and the car with manual rear seat adjustment, the list might be true. @insightman, I get you on them not having focus groups and stuff. But I think the reason why they will not offer a "full-boat" model in NA is that the price will be really high and most consumers will go for a Tesla for that type of money. Just like no one bought a fully loaded Kia Stinger. At that price, people just bought the BMW. In terms of what is taking so long for the US rollout, they always said the Fall of 2021. So there is not delay, so far. The US has a complex regulatory environment so, it is probably taking them longer to get all the paperwork done and that is why they said the Fall. I bet they will release pricing and final specs just before Fall starts or in the beginning of Fall and then start to ship latter in the Fall.
I agree with you on the price issue. If the Ioniq5 is going to be in the 50k range people are just going to buy a Tesla. Not sure if this is relevant but on the Kia site the EV6 "First Edition" is $58,500. Yikes.
I agree with all that you said but, there is NO reason for them to take reservations with zero price info. Are the accountants on holiday!
Hyundai concierge told me there has been no list published that outlines the specifications being built for North America (see other thread). Elsewhere there is a technology pack and economy pack that I think will include power seats in the one and heat pump in the other. We’ll have to wait and confirm these optioned packages from other markets for a hint of what a three month period called “fall” may have in store for North America. Obviously no one knows what they’ll bring but the review skipped over the glove box which I’ve seen as a flop down glove box door in Canada. The roof and floating island are reserved for upper trims which isn’t saying much about this one other than it’s not a base trim♂️. I am sure, that they did announced and published on YouTube and on their media web page, multiple states would be included but are now not being included according to the reservation webpage. So they’re obviously changing things on the fly and it will be hard to say which states they will even be available come “fall”. Some on this forum are ordering them in multiple states they don’t live in hopes to get one specked right. It’s just ridiculous that they’re not communicating with those who made reservations. Maybe I should order a half dozen myself. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Thanks for doing the investigation. I have three reservations in three different states. I think that the reservation plus $5 will get me cup of Starbucks. This a case study of how NOT to introduce a new product.
Interesting and as with their e-GMP/EV6 counterparts, Hyundai earns 2 thumbs down on communications side of the house. Business decisions yes but I find it unfortunate, a disappointment at least to a loyal ICE base willing to wait out the new product line. We will see how many additional buttons they will push before dropping that $55K+ tag.
I assure you the accountants were not on holiday. They probably help setup the reservation system for Hyundai with the marketing department. It is a win-win situation for them. They get a way to gauge the demand and get paid at the same time! If the reservation numbers are through the roof, then the marketing department can boast about it. If they are lackluster, like 10k reservations, then they do not release the numbers. Free money. Or to be more precise, a free loan. Just think that a reservation holder is loaning the company $100 until either they ask for their money back, or they purchase a car. The loan is interest free! They can take that money and invest it (so they make interest), draw down their existing debt, prepare for the Ioniq 5 launch, or whatever. Even if they have a lackluster 10k reservations, that is still a $1mil interest free loan. Personally, I view the Ioniq 5's competitors to be the ID.4, some Mach-E's and the lower end Model Y's. If the price is too high, then people will just go for the Model Y. I just used VW's website and configured the most expensive ID.4 (Pro S, AWD, all packages available) and it came to $50k. I think the Ioniq 5 will be priced similarly, maybe a pinch more because it seems like a higher end vehicle than the ID.4. If we are really lucky, maybe Hyundai Motors will lean super hard on their subsidiary company to give them a super low price on the steel that they make and pass the savings on to us so the price will be lower than an ID.4. But, that is just wishful thinking.
"Hyundai never receives or holds your deposit or payment information. Your Deposit is held in a secure merchant account with Square Capital, LLC until you complete your transaction with the Dealer, at which time the Deposit is transferred directly to Dealer and applied to your transaction." Once the UK buyers disclose prices we can compare that with iD4 sale prices to find the ratio we could reasonably expect here. The only variable then will be options and trim variables between market. US dealers however will set the price so people are trying to gauge which dealers to choose and ordering multiple because there is no guarantee of what and if anything they will offer you.
I don't remember seeing this when I made the deposit or when I recied the confirmation email. I must double check. That is a good find. They act like the deposit money is some type of restricted funds on their balance sheet held in an escrow account. It is not. Square Capital, LLC is their credit card processing company. We all know them as the company who created the device you plug into the audio jack of the iPhone or iPad to take credit card payments. All that statement says is they are keeping the funds in their account at their credit card processor, instead of transferring the funds to a general account.
This FAQ page .... https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/vehicles/ioniq-5-insider-faq Provides a link to this as shown in the picture. https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/ioniq-5-reservation-terms-conditions So it's there but not abundantly apparent. There is verbiage in the FAQ to the same effect but on in a casually stated manor.
