SPY PICS: 2025 Hyundai Elexio spotted in Sydney

A camouflaged Hyundai SUV has been spotted charging in Sydney, with a singular image of the disguised vehicle posted to social media yesterday.

The model doesn’t look inherently familiar, but a bit of internet sleuthing and a rego check revealed it to be a 2025 Hyundai Elexio; a Chinese-born electric SUV primed for release later this year.

Details of the model are thin on the ground globally but carsales understands the Elexio is not presently on the priority list for the Australian market, even though the nameplate was trademarked here in early 2024 – essentially ruling it out as a member of the growing Ioniq portfolio.

Having been spotted testing abroad previously, it’s thought the Elexio is on local soil for hot weather testing seeing as Australia is the Hyundai Motor Group’s (Hyundai, Kia, Genesis) preferred hot weather destination in the southern hemisphere.

That would suggest the vehicle’s tenure Down Under is drawing to a close… unless Hyundai Australia is lending a hand in the chassis tuning as it does for most key global models.

The Elexio is a key milestone for the Korean brand in its Chinese endeavours as the first dedicated EV to be designed and developed primarily in and for China by Beijing Hyundai – a joint venture between BAIC Motor and Hyundai Motor Company.

Chinese teasers reveal the Elexio to ride on a dedicated EV platform and feature all-wheel drive, the latter denoting the presence of a dual-motor powertrain, though single-motor versions will inevitably be in the works too.

We don’t know if the underpinnings are a spin-off of the e-GMP architecture, a derivative of the Kia EV5’s N3 eK platform or an entirely new set-up from BAIC, though all will undoubtedly be revealed at the global debut on May 7.

Most of the development work has thus far been done in China by Beijing Hyundai engineers – winter and cold weather testing recently wrapped up in Heihe as the northern hemisphere heads into spring and summer.

Digital images: Kolesa.ru

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