Long-range, refined and spacious, the new Hyundai Ioniq 9 is like a private jet on wheels

The new Hyundai Ioniq 9 is unashamedly aimed at large families, both in the USA and Asia. A substantial 6- or 7-seater all-electric SUV, the Ioniq 9 crowns a range of dedicated EVs that currently consists of the impressive Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 alongside a scattering of other, smaller EVs.

Ioniq is to Hyundai what EV is to sister company Kia. There’s a bit of shared underpinnings across the two ranges, with Ioniq 9 having the most in common with the Kia EV9 – both are large 7-seaters that exist in the hinterland between SUV and crossover.

In the metal, the Hyundai has a more curved, less angular stylistic approach. This is especially noticeable at the front end, where the Ioniq 9 has a pronounced radius at the edge of the bonnet, with a pixel-style light bar for headlights above a dark grille flanked with blocky running lights. Where the EV9 goes for muscularity and a more elevated stance, the Ioniq 9 has a more stately, leisurely appearance, with a hint of classic streamlined locomotive about it.

Hyundai launched the Ioniq 9 in Gangnam, taking over a gallery space and inviting key members of the design team to talk to the press. The Ioniq family have made a major virtue of their standout design, right from the inception of the Project 45 Concept that previewed this standalone series of EVs back in 2019. Along the way key bits of history have been revisited and revised, such as the recreated Pony Coupe Concept shown in the 2023 and the recent Heritage Series Grandeur that reinvented a 1986 icon for the modern EV age.

The Head of Hyundai Style, the affable, engineering-trained Brit Simon Loasby, was also on hand, now over eight years into his role at the company. Enthusing about the sheer scale and scope of working for a company so large that it can mill the steel to make the cars, as well as construct the colossal cargo ships that take the product around the world, Loasby also stresses that things happen quickly in South Korea. Especially with a management that seems to be as hands-on and involved as Hyundai’s.

Design as spectacle was also the unavoidable theme at the Ioniq 9’s international launch during last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show. It was held at the Sheats-Goldstein Residence, with a car craned over John Lautner’s epic and iconic spatial explosion in order to be revealed with the city as a sparkling backdrop. The house’s blend of 70s angularity and eternal contemporary chic was a perfect match for the car.

Ioniq 9 certainly carries a hint of the retro elegance Hyundai Style has managed to tease out of its 70s and 80s-era models. Up close, it’s a truly big car, 5m in length with 3.13m wheelbase. One of new generation of electric 7-seaters that includes Volvo’s China-only EM90 and its sibling, the Zeekr 009 MPV, the Hyundai rides higher. The curious giant wheel arches transition from perfect semi-circles to squared-off arches and help to emphasise the car’s 1.79m height.

At the rear, there’s a kicked-up D-pillar, a little bit like the Genesis GV90, with the shoulder line falling away beneath it in order to taper the length and give the car a more streamlined look. The rear light clusters evoke noughties Volvo estates, rising up either side of the tail gate. The overall effect is handsome and sober; unlike many in its class (the EV9 included), the Ioniq 9 doesn’t feel imperious and overbearing. The long roofline helps with the aero, as does the 3D sculpted smooth underbody. There’s also a discrete active aero duct beneath the front grill; all these add to an especially slippery body.

Inside, the six-seater is the best way to exploit all that space. With a central aisle like a compact private jet, it has space for options like a sliding central console, a swivelling middle row that can also recline, airline style. All this is set beneath one of the largest panoramic glass roofs in the industry. It’s practical too, with the seats folding this way and that to create a massive load area. Or a handy bed.

Another thing that the scale assists with is battery size. The Ioniq 9 features Hyundai’s largest consumer grade battery to date, a mighty 110.3kWh (larger even than the unit in the EV9), which equates to an undeniably impressive real-world range of up to 385 miles. To stress test this, Hyundai’s press drive took us from the towers of Gangnam to the towers of Busan, on the country’s south-eastern coast.

The world’s third largest port and a major cultural centre, complete with Coop Himme(l)blau-designed cinema complex and Snøhetta's Busan Opera House, currently under construction and due to open in 2027, Busan is a spectacular cityscape of interweaving highways, trains, skyscrapers and a vast commercial dock.

If only there was the same fascination to be held for the motorway to the city, which trod a safe and mostly unremarkable path as it carved its way south from Seoul. The country’s landscape was fallow, all brown earth and vegetation, and the most interesting sights were the monolithic clumps of residential tower blocks that signalled the hamlets closest to the highway. Although there wasn’t much going on outside the windows, the Ioniq 9’s interior held plenty of distractions.

For a start, there’s a 14-speaker Bose stereo, all the better to supplement the comfort of the reclining, massaging seats. There’s in-car support for a number of streaming services to amp up the cinema-on-wheels analogy, and the onboard software system and HMI is powered by generative AI-driven voice recognition. The dashboard is a pleasing smorgasbord of a large but shallow screen and plenty of buttons and dials. Storage cubbies, USB ports and cupholders are scattered liberally about and even the camera-driven rear-view displays aren’t as jarring as some rivals.

Textures and surfaces were also top notch, despite the striking two-tone palette of the test car’s interior. Diana Kloster, Head of Hyundai Colour Team, was on hand to explain the balance between sourcing materials that are either natural or sustainable and elevating the interior quality to match that of certain German rivals. Citing biophilic design as an inspiration, Kloster says that ‘sustainability is not a destination, it's a journey. It’s not greenwashing.’ Hyundai has also been running workshops with students at the Rhode Island School of Design to see how materials impact future interior and design directions, while current innovations include recycled tyres being used in the exterior paint finishes.

Around town, the big Ioniq 9 certainly feels its size although navigation out of the city is aided by South Korea’s superior sat nav set-up. Before too long we were on the open road, testing every one of those 14 speakers and settling into a loping 70mph cruise to max out the range. Elements like heating, cooling and seat massage all sap precious power from the battery, but it’s no spoiler to reveal that we arrived at our destination with just over a fifth of the power remaining. Success was never really in doubt, but the 200+ mile journey (which included plenty of stop-start traffic and some high-speed highway travel) is exactly the kind of distance that many smaller EV’s struggle to achieve without major driver stress.

Despite the existence of a more accelerative sport mode, the idea of the Ioniq 9 being any kind of performance car was never entertained. Like almost all EVs, acceleration is excellent, especially for the size and weight of the car, and the move to battery power seems to have banished the pointless obsession with top speeds. Unsurprisingly, the steering was especially light at low speed, firming up a bit once under way. Sharp corners were few and far between, but everything the big Ioniq 9 did was predictable and safe. Even the ADAS didn't feel too intrusive .

The idea that electrification would usher in a massive revolution in car shapes, sizes and segments hasn’t really materialised. For the most part, EVs are overwhelmingly similar in form to the ICE models that came before, with maybe a lengthened wheelbase or flatter interior floor the only obvious benefit. We’ve mostly just got electric versions of very traditional car categories, with the SUV – medium, big and bigger – the most commonly replicated segment of all.

Ultimately, electrification is all that separates the Ioniq 9 from Hyundai’s own Santa Fe, a conventionally chunky three-row SUV that’s available as both a standard and plug-in hybrid. In South Korea and North America, there’s also the even larger Palisade model that can seat up to 9 to compete for the Ioniq 9’s undeniable charms. Regardless of these in-house rivals, the Hyundai Ioniq 9 is a superior electric machine that’ll find favour in suburbs and cities around the world, with careful attention to detail baked into every last square millimetre.

Hyundai Ioniq 9, price tbc, Hyundai.com