Ioniq 5 nears 1,000 sales in Australia after biggest offering swept up in minutes
An Ioniq 5 N would sport N specific detailing. Source: Hyundai
Australian sales of the hugely popular, but hard to obtain, Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV are nearing 1,000 after the biggest batch offering to date was swept up by buyers in a matter of minutes.
Hyundai offered exactly 200 of its Ioniq 5s, which have won multiple “car of the year” awards and other plaudits, and a spokesman said the offering was sold within 15 minutes after online sales opened at 1pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.
Buyers, both successful and unsuccessful, confirmed the available stock was quickly sold. “Phew, snagged one at third attempt,” one posted on Facebook. Others insisted that some cars were still available because they didn’t have a vision roof.
The batch offerings have been criticised by members and would-be members of the EV community, some of whom have compared it to trying to buy Rolling Stones tickets on line. Any changes to car type or colour can sacrifice a seemingly winning position.
Ioniq 5 deliveries just a fraction of customer interest
Hyundai has now sold 930 of its Ioniq 5s in Australia since it was launched later last year, although that touches just a fraction of the interest in the original tender, which amounted to more than 16,000 buyers.
Many car companies are struggling to meet orders and buyer interest in Australia, particularly with EVs because their focus in on delivering them to markets, such as Europe, where they have tough vehicle emissions standards to meet.
Australia is one of the only western economies not to have vehicle emissions standards, which means it has become a dumping ground for dirty cars, and is struggling to source enough EVs to meet demand.
One car maker not troubled by vehicle emissions standards is Tesla, which has had a huge response to its Model Y electric crossover that was finally released to the Australian market a few months ago. Tesla expects to deliver at least 10,000 of these by the end of the year, taking its total deliveries of EVs in this market to around 50,000.
