SPY PICS: Hyundai IONIQ 7 spotted in Germany
Full-size seven-seat electric SUV will look nothing like the Kia EV9 when it debuts later this yearThe 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 7 has been spotted testing in Germany ahead of the all-new seven-seat electric SUV’s reveal later this year and its subsequent Australian release sometime in 2024.
Mechanically related to the hulking new Toyota LandCruiser-size Kia EV9, which measures 5010mm long and arrives Down Under in October, the IONIQ 7 will be the biggest Hyundai SUV offered in Australia (eclipsing the 4995mm Palisade, but not the 5253mm Staria) and will have an outlandish exterior design to emphasise its sheer size.
Spied here encapsulated in thick camouflage that hides much of its final design, it seems the IONIQ 7 won’t be positioned as an all-electric cousin for the upcoming Hyundai Santa Fe or the existing Palisade, if its decidedly more curvaceous roofline, airy glasshouse and aero wheels are any guide.
Its relationship with the EV9 will be especially hard to pick for the uninitiated given the Kia’s blocky proportions and angular details, but the two models will almost certainly share the same EV powertrains as well as the same e-GMP EV chassis architecture.
The dense camo makes it hard to ascertain anything particularly different about the production-spec IONIQ 7 compared to the preceding Hyundai Seven concept that previewed it at the 2021 Los Angeles motor show.
Peeking through the disguise, however, we can see the pixel headlight arrangement has been adapted to a slightly more realistic lighting arrangement – one that can actually project light forward – plus the obvious inclusion of physical wing mirrors.
We’d also hazard a guess the predominantly glass tailgate has been swapped out for a more traditional one with a glass upper window and a metal lower half in the name of crash safety and privacy.
That said, the concept’s wrap-around rear tail-light strip looks to have been retained, as have its EV-signature flush-fit door-handles.
Like the Kia EV9, which will be priced from close to $100,000 when it arrives here in three months or so, the IONIQ 7 will likely be available in a range of flavours and offered with a range of single- and dual-motor powertrains, but won’t come cheap.
Related: Kia EV9 2023 Review – International
Related: LA MOTOR SHOW: Hyundai Seven EV concept revealed
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