Years back, I went along with a salesperson to present a prototype of something that I had helped design, based on what we thought were the requirements of the client. The only way the meeting could have gone worse is if the customer had expressed their displeasure with baseball bats, Casino style. They didn’t like the shape, the size, the functionality, or the price point. Heck, not even the color met with approval.
The ride home was understandably near-silent until the salesperson finally spoke up. “Well,” he said, rather sheepishly, “I think we need to repaint that thing and present it again.” He was not joking.
You can laugh all you want (I did), but this sort of customer rejection happens with products still today, particularly cars, and the manufacturers don’t seem to accept the reason why. One automobile I can think of that might fit this description is the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
In his reviews, our Thomas Hundal has praised virtually every aspect of this car:
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is one of the greatest electric cars on the market. We’re talking about a reasonably priced electric sedan with full-sized interior space, up to 342 miles of EPA range, an 800-volt architecture, and proper luxury car ride quality that’ll put many German machines to shame. Unfortunately, it’s also not a huge seller.
Indeed, while Tesla (up until recently) was pushing hundreds of thousands of Model Ys, and Hyundai was moving over 44,000 Ioniq 5s, the Ioniq 6 only found 12,264 buyers in 2024. Worse, that’s a decline from 2023 for the Ioniq 6, while the 5’s numbers improved by 33 percent. Clearly, people ain’t digging this thing.
If this car is so good, is there something holding it back in the market? You bet your ass there is. Or its ass.
Butt Seriously…
When a company is doing a rather significant facelift to a car that is barely two model years old, there must be a reason. This seems to be the case with this rather controversial Ioniq 6.
Introduced for the 2023 model year, the Ioniq 6’s styling looked like nothing else on the road, though some felt it bore a partial resemblance to a Porsche 911 or even a thirties streamliner car.
For the just-revealed facelifted version, Hyundai made some detail modifications such as removing the “whale tail” spoiler, toning down the busy diffuser, and de-felining the “cat-like” face of the original car with a set of slim headlamps for a squintier visage.
All of these changes were well received by Thomas and the story commenters alike, but they didn’t address the main issue that many if not most people have with the car: its rear end.
Some funny comments here from Thomas’s post, unless you’re a Hyundai PR person of course:
I still don’t like the rear “droopy butt” look.
Pretty face; sagging butt.
Still looks like a melted bar of soap.
It doesn’t need a facelift so much as a buttlift. Yes, I said it.
It still looks like it was pinched at both ends
Infiniti J30 called, it wants its butt back
Ah, the J30! Are the designers and marketing people here too young to remember that the melted Peugeot 504 tail on the Nissan J.Ferie/Infiniti J30 was sales kryptonite?
Hey, I liked the J30! I found the styling of the original Ioniq 6 very unique and intriguing as well, but you can try to defend it until you’re blue in the face, and still nobody is going to buy it. Generally speaking, the public seems to hate this car’s ass.
What is funny is that Nissan released another car about the same time as the J30 that had a very similar shape yet just ever so slightly tweaked, and with the taillights mounted up a bit higher. This car went on to be a sales juggernaut for the hamburger-logo brand and spawned a whole cult of Big Altima Energy.
With the Ioniq 6, though, it’s worse than aesthetics, as one commenter pointed out:
The styling changes, although a plus to my eyes, don’t appear to have done anything to expand the 11 cubic-foot trunk, which is my main sticking point.
Wow, that is indeed rather pathetic cargo space. This thing could be the most beautiful car in the world, but it still ain’t gonna sell with luggage capacity like that.
What can be done? Is it too late to save this car without a total redesign? Maybe, but I have to at least try.
Your Butt Is Mine
Anything is possible in a facelift (or buttlift), but a car maker will want to reserve changes for parts that can be easily removed and replaced without making major changes to the body structure. This often means parts that are bolted on like the bumpers, taillights, and even hoods or trunk lids. In the case of the Ioniq 6, those parts would appear to be the sloping trunk lid and the bumper / rear fascia panel. I’ll work with the N-Line model since I think that’s the most aesthetically successful and best starting point.
The idea is twofold. First, visually raise the back of the car to make it look more wedge-like in profile and less like it was pinched in at the back. Next, increase the luggage space by enclosing more space at the back of the car. Is that possible? To some degree, yes. Take a look at the old:
..and now the new:
You can see that I’ve added a raised trunk lid to create almost a “bustle back,” but far more integrated than the infamous Cadillac Seville that had such a protuberance on it. Next, I’ve moved the taillight band up higher to visually really help bring your eye up. Finally, almost all of the black fascia that used to contain the taillights will be painted body color, except for the section at the bottom that would line up nicely with the rising curve of the grey rocker panels to continue that sweep around back.
Here’s an animation to show the original and modified version:
If anything, I think it’s made the car less distinctive but also far less polarizing; that’s what’s needed when you’re trying to be a mainstream seller.
In back that addition to that new trunk lid I made seems rather BMW “Bangle Butt” like, yet people did in fact buy those and they don’t purchase the Ioniq 6, so maybe such a change is a good thing. Here is the original:
… and the raised back:
The animation shows the change:
From the side, the changes are not as pronounced looking, but they do work to make that back appear taller (since it is) and add more of a wedge shape to the car’s profile. The original:
…and modified:
Truth be told, I really want to change the rear fenders and quarter window as well, but as I said, at that point you might as well just redesign the whole car. The idea is to salvage as much of the existing car as possible and get a few more years out of it before Hyundai is ready with an all-new model.
Here’s the animation of the change to the tail, which is very subtle from this view:
Most importantly, I hope that such a change might give you enough room to get that last suitcase in there that won’t have to be shoved into the back seat.
No Ifs, Ands, Or Butts
The Ioniq 6 seems to be a great car, and it deserves to be a hit in the market with more than just the few crazies like me who go for its unique and controversial styling.
Are these bolt-on changes a total success? Of course not, but it’s a rather dramatic difference for minimal tooling work. Like that salesperson at my old job, Hyundai seems to be missing the point; their star EV has an Achille’s Ass and changing everything but (excuse the pun) that is not likely to turn the tide.
Here’s Why American Hyundai Ioniq 6 Owners Are Getting Shortchanged On Frunk Space – The Autopian
The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Limited AWD Could Teach Mercedes-Benz A Thing Or Two – The Autopian
The Base Hyundai Ioniq 6 Probably Isn’t The One You Want – The Autopian
Good job!
It looks just as bad as the Mercedes Benz CLS styling it copies.
Much, much better.
Waiting for Temu to sell it as an add-on bustle.
That hypothetical change is an improvement. But I’d still rather have an Ioniq 5 or a Kia EV6.
I think the butt is actually fine…it’s that body line that arcs over the front fenders and heads towards the rear of the car, grabbing the rear passenger window as collateral damage before falling off the back of the car.
It’s very bleh. And maybe this needed a stronger update.
if the line went straight back and lined up with the previous ducktail spoiler, I bet the car would have looked much better.
Go all Kardashian on this and make it a wagon, with room for luggage.
No, not an SUV (like the 5). That’s too high off the ground. I don’t need a car that’s taller than I am, and yet I STILL hit my head getting into it.
I’d wagon all the things.
One reason why GM circa 1980 was able to do the formal roof buttlift of the Cutlass and Regal sedans was they used the doors they’d developed for the wagons.
I came to post the same thing. Make it a wagon!
+1
I think this could look great if turned into a wagon.
Bishop, your changes make it look more mainstream, which of course is probably the point from a sales POV. To be honest: I like them. Yah, it dilutes some of the 6’s quirk, but in this case I think that would be for the best. I wonder whether there was actually talk of implementing such changes at Hyundai before the recent refresh was released.
It looks more like a new-gen Lincoln MKZ than the actual Chinese market Lincoln Z does.
From the rear 3/4 I think that’s exactly what it looks like. Or an earlier Camry. Regardless, it looks more like bland things that have actually sold rather well in the past.
I think it would still stand out though, and still pairs well with the original design. Reminds me of the big change Honda did in the 7th gen Accord facelift to the rear, even though that was more aesthetics.
I don’t dislike the droopy rear, but the cargo space as you say, especially for the price point. Even if people aren’t buying sedans for cargo carrying, it’s less than an Accent sedan had and at odds with the roomy interior. Not ideal for say, an airport rideshare.
Yup. Witness the sea of white, black and silver cars on the roads and in every parking lot.
Mmmm, no.
Among other things, I’m sure it destroys aero, which is a huge selling point of the 6.
Never liked the rear of these. Always looked like a dog taking a dump. Same with the big Lincoln SUV.
This looks like a mid 2010’s Malibu rear end. Which isn’t a bad thing.
I don’t see this as an improvement…
At first I read this as “punched at both ends”. Like a pair of fingercuffs. Needs a license plate that reads, “CHSNAMY”
FNGRCFFS
I’ve never detested the looks of the Ionic 6, and the recent refresh is fine, more or less. I dig the whole streamliner aesthetic, and I gather (from various reviews) that it’s a decent enough electric car: not a sports sedan really, but rather a CAR to be comfortable and cover miles in, like a big Volvo sedan.
I’d like it more if it weren’t for the fact that Hyundai’s Ionic 5 is so damn appealing in form and function: I prefer a hatchback/wagon, and all those angles still remind me of some modern interpretation of an A1 VW Golf/Rabbit. The (hopefully) upcoming Rivian R3/X also excites the senses in this fashion. I hope Rivian sticks around long enough to make some, and for them to depreciate fast enough when I can afford an R3X in dark green with those orange mirror caps and chonky wheels… I’ll probably have one foot in the grave by that time. 🙁
Back to the Ionic 6: I’m not a Hyundai fanboy, but I think their EVs have been great visually and decent functionally. Thank heavens for South Korea’s participation in the global auto industry… it’d be that much less interesting w/o them.
Funny, the Ioniq 5 and modern GTI are my garage. One’s like a super sized, 8-bit version of the lowered other.
It is a pretty large car; because of the shape I always assumed it was Golf sized but it ain’t
It hides it heft deceptively well!
I just want something like that but also closer in size to those 80s hatchbacks.
I would also raised the line along the side so it swept up to the trunk lid instead of down, or at least went straight back.
Maybe it would make it look more “normal.” I don’t care. The current car looks off to me.
You are absolutely right. I would very much like to change the whole back end but I was just looking at whatever emergency bolt-on solution they could do to get it done NOW.
In the 1970s, somebody would have produced this in fiberglass as an aftermarket trunk lid replacement, and dealers would have offered it installed and painted with/without an accompanying vinyl roof package
But people are generally much more timid about modifying cars like that now
That’s because many more people lease rather than buy vehicles these days. Leasing is also partly the root cause of the move to blacks, whites and greys for exterior colours… gotta protect those residuals!!!
The aerodynamic changes you’ve made have now reduced its range to under 200 miles. /s
Did you listen to the Bangles while redesigning that butt?
I’ll see myself out.
Just Another Manic Hyundai
(Charlton Heston voice) “Take your damn star, you magnificent bastard…”
COTD
On man that title might be the best one to ever appear on this site. Love it!
Without fixing that swooping character line, you can only do so much.
The butt is good, it just needs to be a lift back.
110%
This would be gorgeous as a wagon. It wouldn’t fix the problem of no one buying it, but at least it would look good.
The Bishop’s Bodacious Bangle Butt with embiggened Badonkadonk to Bait Buyers.
Nothing like some butt stuff on a Tuesday to get the metal moving.
Your butt must be sore if that car in the profile pic is yours. I put monoblocks on my W126 and it rode quite poorly. But it looked hot.
They’re a Repro in 17″, so I have more sidewall than most of the 18″ ones you see. But I’m also eying some 16″ Borbet Type As.
Had mine from 100,000 to 220,000 miles on the original shocks so the ride got progressively more, well, American.
Mine has 317,000 miles, but I only put maybe 5k a year on it. It’s riding on fresh Bilstein B4s and the finest cut springs an angle grinder can buy.
You made it look like a Tesla!
You saw that. Maybe they could do a Tesla trade-in thing like Polestar to get you in.
Butt Stuff.
I see what you did there.
Ngl, all I can think about when I see the thumbnail image is ‘My Black Ass’.
Why make only the ass of a red car black?
Because it looks cool
Some people pay good money to make their ass red.