Hyundai has confirmed that they are planning to introduce a fully electric SUV by 2018. According to the Korea Herald newspaper, a Hyundai spokesperson has acknowledged that, "it is true that we will launch a new electric SUV." Sources indicate that the new SUV, rumoured to have a 320-km driving range and, possibly, all-wheel drive, will be built on an all-new platform not shared with the recently released Ioniq compact hatch. The new SUV would require its own platform in order to have sufficient room for the size of battery pack required to provide that long a range in a larger, heavier SUV body.
Moving to an electric SUV is a natural progression to further widespread adoption of EVs; nd Hyundai has already discovered that the Niro SUV produced by its Kia subsidiary, which shares a hybrid drivetrain with the Ioniq, has been better received by the Korean market than the Ioniq.
The only real competitor at this time would be the Tesla Model X, but it's likely that the Hyundai SUV would slot in well under the Tesla's $132,000 sticker price. Expect the as yet unnamed electric SUV to go on sale in 2018 as a 2019 model.
