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The Hyundai Ioniq 6 electric sedan is now sold out in Australia ahead of the updated version arriving in the coming weeks, but the way it is sold in Australia may be about to change.
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Hyundai has sold out its stock of the current Ioniq 6 sedan ahead of the facelifted model arriving soon.
The entry-level Ioniq 6 RWD was available for just $49,990 drive-away, down from its $71,500 before on-road costs starting price, but only for MY23 models, not for newer MY24 or MY25.
A spokesperson confirmed to Drive in October that there were 115 MY23 cars left, and one MY25, but as of February 2026, all are gone.
Despite its efforts, including offering a $20,000 deposit contribution since the start of 2025 when purchased through Hyundai Finance, the Ioniq 6 has failed to sell in significant numbers.
In 2025, 200 examples of the Ioniq 6 were sold, down from 330 in 2024 and 417 in 2023. In comparison, even though the Tesla Model 3 suffered from poor sales last year, it still managed to outsell the Hyundai by shifting 6617 cars.
The facelift for the Hyundai Ioniq 6 will bring revised front and rear styling, an N Line variant, new infotainment software, a different steering wheel, and "more premium" door trim materials.
Hyundai’s Chief Operating Officer, Gavin Donaldson, admitted the Ioniq 6 is a niche car due to its body style and premium nature, and said in the future the manufacturer may not bring stock en masse, but rather based on individual customers’ orders.
“The Ioniq 6 for us is probably gonna be more of a niche gap. We think there's still some opportunities there for us, but we see probably our greatest opportunities in Elexio, Ioniq 5 and Kona from that perspective,” he told Australian media, including Drive.
“We know we'll get some sales from an Ioniq 6 N point of view, but in its normal format, it’s just probably gonna be more of a build toward customer type demand thing.”
When it arrives locally later this year, the Ioniq 6 is likely to be even more of a niche product, but that isn’t stopping the brand from committing to the model.
“We are aware about it. These are small volumes, and we also hit the limit regarding affordability for our customer base, and fans face reality. We know this,” said Hyundai’s Performance Development Tech Unit head, and ex-Porsche engineer, Manfred Harrer.
“It's a halo, it helps the brand. It shows our capabilities. That's the purpose behind it.”
The rear-wheel-drive Ioniq 6 Dynamiq has a 168kW/350Nm single electric motor, a 614-kilometre driving range rating on European WLTP lab-testing, and a claimed 7.4-second 0-100km/h acceleration time.
Meanwhile, the Techniq and Epiq upgrade to all-wheel drive, featuring a combined output of 239kW/605Nm from front and rear electric motors, a 519km WLTP driving range, and a 0-100km/h time of 5.1 seconds.
The Ioniq 6 N performance sedan, a rival for the Tesla Model 3 Performance, matches its Ioniq 5 N SUV sibling with 478kW/770Nm in N Grin Boost mode, or 448kW/740Nm in standard mode.
“Having the portfolio that we do, we should be stronger in EVs.”
As to why, Donaldson put some of it down to the sales model it used initially for the Ioniq 5 and 6.
When it arrived in 2021, the Ioniq 5 SUV was originally sold directly to consumers via the Hyundai website, in tranches of a few hundred cars at a time. The Ioniq 6 followed a similar structure when it came out in 2023, before ditching the approach later in the year.
“We did disengage a bit of our dealer network, and we probably disengaged some of our customers [through that],” Donaldson added. “We learned a lot from our direct-to-consumer model, and there's a lot of that that we take forward.”
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A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
