Isn't It Ioniq

Hyundai has done it again: confounded the opposition with a well-conceived and executed newcomer – this time, a classy hybrid equivalent.

- Steve Loader

HYUNDAI’S choice of ‘Ioniq’ in naming its new electric and hybrid car always begged being corrupted to ‘ironic’.

But the joke is on Hyundai’s rivals; those who never expected this now perennial upstart Korean brand to show them how things should be done.

This time by creating an alternative-fuel car that doesn’t require a complete change of faith from would-be owners.

It is a new-age motoring chameleon: the world’s first car to be offered in hybrid (from £19,995), plug-in hybrid (arriving soon) and all-electric (from £24,495) formats.

So if you like the highly specified Ioniq’s general pitch, there is an alternative fuel power train to please everyone.

The car also benefits from a slippery five-door hatchback body with a 0.24 drag coefficient; better than most production cars and matching those green icons, the Toyota Prius and all-electric Tesla Model S.