Ioniq 5

Make
Hyundai
Segment
SUV

It was seemingly out of nowhere that Hyundai Motor Corporation announced the launch of an all-new sub-brand called Ioniq. Not to be confused with the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid and electric cars, the Ioniq brand will be the electric brand within the group and sit alongside Hyundai, Kia, and luxury marque, Genesis in the Korean company's umbrella of operations. It seems the bold move is a good one, though, as Yahoo Finance has reported a 15% increase in Hyundai's share values almost overnight with a 10.2% increase on Monday alone.

The announcement of the Ioniq brand was accompanied by a commitment to three electric models in 2021, 2022, and 2024, respectively, including production versions of the 45 concept and the Prophecy concept and a large SUV. The move comes as Hyundai aims to attain a 10% stake in the global electric vehicle market, selling one million battery-electric vehicles by 2025. This is part of plans to include no fewer than 23 electric vehicles within the Hyundai Motor Corp arsenal by the same year. While these vehicles were previously going to be split equally between Kia and Hyundai, it would appear that the Ioniq brand will take on the bulk of the fully-electric models, a move that could see it become an EV manufacturer to rival Tesla.

Not only was the increase in the company's value attributed to the new brand's birth, but the interest from several other parties who want to collaborate on future EVs. Reuters reported that Nikola Motor - creator of the Badger pickup truck - is interested in working alongside Hyundai and the Ioniq brand. The company may have been struggling lately, but Nikola's founder, Trevor Milton, confirmed in an interview on Sunday that he has twice approached the Korean automaker but has thus far been rebuffed on both occasions.