Hyundai’s mission statement for its newest, biggest product is simple: to bring the world together. Presumably, all together under one big, panoramic roof. The panoramic roof of the Hyundai Ioniq 9.
Of course, the Korean carmaker doesn’t explicitly say that, noting only that this massive three-row SUV is built to appeal to “today’s consumer who is hyper-connected yet feels more isolated than ever.” All aboard the Friendship Express, then.
There’s so much space. ‘Superior,’ according to Hyundai. There’s seating for up to seven passengers depending on configuration, and not just any seating, but comfortable seating. First- and second-row ‘Relaxation’ chairs can fully recline and offer a massage that stimulates blood circulation.
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Want to bicker over how bad the driver is? If you spec the six-seat option with two captain’s chairs in the second row, they can both swivel to face the third—when stationary, mind—to allow better “interaction and communication among passengers.” Like noting how they should have gotten there already.
Speaking of which, the driver—in their own postcode inside the Ioniq 9—will have the meat of a 110.3kWh usable battery to feast on. That’s a fair chunk bigger than the 99.8kWh unit in the Ioniq 9’s Kia EV9 sibling, and in this iteration, it’s married to either one single 215hp rear motor (Long Range RWD), or that plus a 94hp front motor (Long Range AWD), or really very that via two 215hp motors front and back (Performance AWD).
This latter version can accelerate from 0100kph in just 5.2sec, which we’re obliged to remind you is roughly what an E46 BMW M3 used to achieve. Other versions are slower. Spec the RWD single-motor car, though, and Hyundai claims up to 620km of listening to your passengers complain that you should have taken the previous left.
And you’ll hear them more clearly. Sound-absorbing tires absorb...sound. The 9’s structure—featuring heavy use of aluminum—reduces that low-level ‘booming noise’ when you’re on poor roads. There’s active noise cancellation. Acoustic, laminated glass. Triple sealing and reinforced A-pillars to lower NVH levels inside.
Though because the driver uses a different currency to the second and third rows, they can put the Ioniq 9’s self-leveling suspension to good use. And the torque vectoring. And traction control. Or just sling it into ‘Auto Terrain’ mode to use AI that scans the road ahead and adjusts the dampers accordingly.
Platform enthusiasts might like to know this amicable leviathan sits on the E-GMP platform, offering lots of advanced tech—400V/800V, V2L, and so on—and a floor-mounted battery that keeps the interior floor flat, for more—that’s right!—space.
And toys. There’s ‘ample’ storage including a slidable Universal Island 2.0 (literally, a sliding island inside an island), a panoramic curved display made up of a 12-inch digital dial display and another 12-inch infotainment screen, and high-output USB-C ports that run off the high-voltage battery for rapid 100W phone charging. Then comes fancy climate control, a sterilizer, an eight-speaker audio system or the option of a 14-speaker Bose setup, and the option of buying digital upgrades like interior light patterns, content streaming (Amazon Music, Soundcloud, that sort of thing), and even different displays.
And assistance. Too much to note here, but it includes stuff like collision avoidance and assists for lane-keeping, blind spot, safe-exit warning, speed limit, attention, high beam, park distance, and so on. Want to park the contents of your neighborhood into the 9? Fold the third row down and it’ll swallow up to 1,323 liters of stuff. Plus, there’s an 88-liter frunk in rear-wheel-drive variants, reducing to 52 liters if you stick a motor up front for AWD.
It’s a distinctive front end, too, honed for aerodynamic performance and contributing to the 9’s drag coefficient of just 0.259. There’s an active air flap, a 3D-shaped underbody, aero wheels, and optional fancy camera wing mirrors. There’s also stadium lighting up front thanks to the pixels integrated into the LED units.
And rather than offering a slab-sided profile, the 9’s roofline curves and tapers off to what Hyundai is calling a ‘boat tail’ rear. Wheel options are plentiful and large, up to 21 inches. Ditto the color palette on offer.
Hyundai will roll out the Friendship Express first in the US and Korea in early 2025, while Europe and other parts of the world will come later. No word on prices just yet, but consider how big it is, what you’re getting, and how much of the world you can fit underneath that panoramic roof.
More photos of the Hyundai Ioniq 9:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
