Hyundai’s Prius-Fighting Hybrid Uncovered In Spy Shots

In the 15 years since Toyota launched the Prius hybrid, no automaker has come close to its sales success worldwide. Hyundai plans to change all that with this car, named the Ioniq, shown here for the first time uncovered in spy shots.

With gas prices below $2 a gallon in parts of the United States, any new hybrid/electric sedan faces a tough audience. Sales of hybrids have shrunk this year even as the larger market boomed—and about 75 percent of the hybrids that did sell wore either a Toyota or Lexus badge. With the all-new Prius hitting dealers now, Toyota will be pushing the car toward new buyers and launching a series of variants to fill out the line.

All of which makes the Ioniq’s task that much harder—but unlike most automakers who’ve fiddled with hybrids as a hobby, Hyundai has followed Toyota’s playbook and committed to the task. The Ioniq will be its own model, not a subset of an existing sedan, riding an all-new chassis designed for hybrids and electric power. The sleek hatch shape mimics the Prius, Honda Insight and other models designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency, and in these shots looks fairly handsome.