Hyundai IONIQ 5 Open For Booking In Malaysia - Estimated At RM300k

Fresh off launching their Hyundai Kona EV, it appears Hyundai Sime Darby Motor is gearing up for the launch of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 in Malaysia. 

Carlist.my can confirm that bookings are now being accepted for the Hyundai IONIQ 5. The booking fee of RM1000 will be fully refundable should your purchase not go through. 

Our sources indicate that the IONIQ 5 will be priced under RM300k in top guise (though declined to comment whether top guise will be the Ultimate 73 kWh all-wheel-drive variant (as offered in the UK market) taking into account the EV tax exemptions from Budget 2022. 

The local launch of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 is expected to take place locally either in April or May this year. 

The IONIQ 5 is built upon the same E-GMP platform as the Kia EV6 - packing similarly potent performance. An electric range of up to 480 km and being able to charge from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes (with the right kind of charger) makes it a very compelling option for Malaysian buyers. It will come in both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive variants. 

Battery options are available in either 58 kWh or 73 kWh. For the 58 kWh rear-wheel-drive variant, you get 170 PS and 350 Nm of torque. Going up to the mid-range 73 kWh rear-wheel-drive option, outputs go up to 217 PS and 350 Nm of torque. Topping out the range with the 73 kWh all-wheel-drive which will give you 305 PS and 605 Nm of torque.

On more regular charging options, a home AC wallbox charger will be able to get you to full power in roughly six hours depending on variant. Most DC fast chargers will get that time down to 45 minutes to an hour – to get you to an 80% charge. As mentioned earlier, all variants on the high-speed 350 kW charge system will take just under 18 minutes to reach 80% charge.

Rather surprisingly, the IONIQ 5 isn’t that heavy. Kerb weights start at 1,830 kilograms and go all the way up to 2,100 kilograms – fairly comparable with a modern mid-sized luxury sedan or SUV. Unfortunately, it isn’t exactly the largest of cars, being closer to a compact crossover than anything else – it seats five, though not with an astounding amount of legroom.

This is especially peculiar as while the wheelbase is astoundingly long at 3,000 mm, the overall length is just 100 mm or so longer than a Proton X70, and it is both marginally narrower and marginally shorter.

Active safety and functionality are fairly highly specified and flat across the range of models. The SE Connect entry-level model makes do with manual adjusting front driver seats, while the rest get electric adjustment. A 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system is common across all the variants, as is your usual host of connectivity options.

Items like Forward Collision Avoidance Assist and Highway Drive Assist are common across all variants, though vary in terms of assistance level. The SE Connect model gets a more rudimentary variant that doesn’t assist with crossing junctions and gets the first level of Highway Drive Assistance. 

As for the prices in the UK to serve as a comparison, the IONIQ 5 retails for:

• SE Connect variant: 36,995 GBP (RM 215,165) for the entry-level with the 58 kWh rear-wheel-drive package
• Premium variant: 39,295 GBP (RM 228,542) for the 58 kWh rear-wheel-drive
• Premium variant: 41,945 GBP (RM 243,954) for the 73 kWh rear-wheel-drive
• Premium variant: 45,145 GBP (RM 262,566) for the 73 kWh all-wheel-drive
• Ultimate variant: 42,295 GBP (RM 245,990) for the 58 kWh rear-wheel-drive
• Ultimate variant: 44,945 GBP (RM 261,402) for the 73 kWh rear-wheel-drive
• Ultimate variant: 48,145 GBP (RM 280,014) for the 73 kWh all-wheel-drive

Now it remains to be seen if the offerings in Malaysia will be as extensive or a bit more streamlined. 

For those of you who recall, the Sultan of Johor, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar already owns the Hyundai IONIQ 5, rolling up in it for his meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in September of last year. 

In the meantime check out our review of the Hyundai Kona below: