Hyundai Motor is not just staying in China — the company is going all in. At the auto show in Beijing (Auto China 2026), the Koreans presented the Ioniq V, which became the first serial embodiment of the new brand philosophy. This is not the Ioniq that is familiar in Europe or the USA. This is a car created on the principle of "In China, For China", where only the logo and general quality control remain from the parent company.
The situation for Hyundai in the Middle Kingdom in recent years looked, to put it mildly, bad. If in the first quarter of 2016 the company sold almost 240,000 cars there, in the same period of 2026, registrations barely exceeded 27,000 units. A tenfold drop forced management to reconsider everything. Hyundai CEO José Muñoz declared: "We are not leaving China. We are tripling our efforts".
CATL and Momenta Inside
The Ioniq V is built on a new platform developed jointly with the Chinese auto giant BAIC. This allowed the integration of solutions into the car that are standard for the modern Chinese market but often absent in global models. In particular, the electric car received an 800-volt architecture, providing ultra-fast charging, and batteries from market leader CATL.
The intellectual part is overseen by the startup Momenta, which helped Hyundai implement an advanced driver assistance system. The dimensions of the novelty are 4900 mm in length, 1890 mm in width, and 1470 mm in height with a wheelbase of 2900 mm.
Photo: CNC
Design and Comfort in the Cabin
The company decided to abandon the global design language "Art of Steel" in favor of the local direction "The Origin". The appearance of the Ioniq V inherited many traits from the Venus concept: wedge-shaped profile and smooth silhouette lines. Inside, the driver and passengers will find:
- Huge 27-inch panoramic display;
- Horizon projection screen;
- Dolby Atmos sound system;
- Enhanced noise insulation.
Legroom impresses: 1078 mm in the front and 1019 mm in the back. According to preliminary data, the Long Range version will be able to cover more than 600 km on a single charge in the CLTC cycle.
27-inch screen in Ioniq V cabin. Photo: CNC
Global Ambitions of Chinese Assembly
Interestingly, the "In China, For China" strategy has a continuation — "To Global". Hyundai plans to use its Chinese facilities as a hub for export. Cars developed and assembled in China will later go to Europe and the Middle East.
Overall, over the next five years, Beijing Hyundai plans to release 20 new models, which will include both pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The next novelty is supposed to be a crossover, whose debut is scheduled for the first half of 2027.
