The electric automotive industry is filled with luxury vehicles, and if you were to look at each platform (non-electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and electric), the EV field comes the most stacked with luxury vehicles. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, with the leading automotive manufacturers being Tesla, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Polestar, Volvo, Genesis, Rivian, Lucid, and more. These brands don’t just offer one EV; they offer an assortment of electric vehicles, making the electric automotive industry one of the most elevated and lavish markets.

But, say you can’t afford some of these models that come from high-end brands. Companies like Tesla surprisingly keep prices low, but the rest of the playing field tends to keep their models’ price tags pretty high. In general, EVs tend to be more pricey than their gasoline-powered counterparts. In the car world, if the model doesn’t come from a luxury car brand, it technically can’t be classified as a luxury vehicle. Instead, it gets branded as a “premium vehicle”, which can still be on par or even better than some branded as luxury vehicles. If you’re looking for an elevated electric car that doesn’t carry the luxury price tags, only one model fits the bill.

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The Hyundai Ioniq 6 Is The Most Premium EV Without Being Classified As Luxury

The electric car that comes closest to being a luxury model is the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6. Many may argue that any Tesla model fits the bill, but this American car company sits in a gray area. It’s up in the air whether Tesla classifies itself as a premium or luxury car brand. The issue here is that the Model 3 and Model Y look to be premium models, but then you have the Model X and Model S classified as luxury vehicles. Car brands are one or the other, and it’s unusual for brands to dabble in luxury vehicles along with different classifications. So, for now, Tesla is out of the debate since they already offer luxury cars. With that out of the way, there is truly only one model left that fits all the criteria, and it’s the iconic Hyundai Ioniq 6.

The Ioniq 6 Starts At $37,850

One of the best-selling points on the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is, ironically, its “selling point,” aka its price tag. Hyundai offers four trims on the 2025 Ioniq 6, with the SE Standard Range being the base model, carrying an MSRP of $37,850. The Limited is the most elevated trim, raising the price tag to $51,100. Each trim comes standard with a rear-wheel drive setup, but the SE, SEL, and Limited can be upgraded to an all-wheel drive setup for an additional $3,500.

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Trims And Prices

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Diving Into The Features Of Each Ioniq 6 Trim

In order to understand all the features of the 2025 Ioniq 6, it’s best to explore the three trims individually. If you threw all the features simultaneously, it would be hard to understand what trim gets what. The Standard Range is the base model and houses all the base standard features. This includes a variety of standard equipment such as 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and taillights, heated front seating, and power-adjustable driver seating. This is a great trim for urban commuters who are trying to get their foot into the door of the EV world. The SE keeps most of the features of the standard range, with most of the changes being performance and efficiency, which you’ll get to in a minute.

The SEL pulls in a tad bit more convenience and comfort with upgrades such as faux leather upholstery instead of the standard cloth upholstery. The wheels get upgraded to stylish 20-inch wheels. The Limited comes jam-packed with the most features, such as a glass sunroof, ventilated front seating, power-adjustable front passenger seating, driver’s seat memory settings, and many more. The Ioniq 6 may seem a bit lackluster right now with the given standard features, but it should be noted that it’s nearly impossible to explore each feature, and the real show-stoppers are the technology.

Equipped With Hyundai’s Innovative Technology

Hyundai has been on a dominating spree regarding technology in the EV world, and it shows on the 2025 Ioniq 6. The base model comes standard with a 12.3-inch navigational touchscreen along with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. The multimedia system also comes standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. The Limited trim receives the most displays, thanks to the additional head-up display projected on the driver’s windshield. For personalization and customization, the Ioniq 6 can come equipped with dual-color ambient lighting, which offers a spectrum of 64 colors and six pre-selected themes.

Hyundai SmartSense Driving Aids

• Smart Cruise Control w/ Stop and Go
• Surround View Monitor
• Blind-Spot Viel Monitor
• Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist – Reverse, Forward, and Side
• Remote Smart Parking
• Highway Driving Assist 2
• Lane Following Assist
• Driver Attention Warning
• Lane Keeping Assist
• High Beam Assist
• Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist w/ Car/Pedestrian/Cyclist Detection and Junction Turning
• Blind Spot Collision Warning
• Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist
• Safe Exit Warning
• Rear Occupant Alert

For convenience, the Ioniq 6 keeps all passengers online with the 5 USB ports spread throughout the cabin. Speaking of staying online, Hyundai allows your phone to be turned into a digital key, with the ability to unlock the doors, turn the car on, and can even help you parallel park the car for you. With it being an EV and all, it’s expected to house some impressive driving aids, and Hyundai doesn’t disappoint with the suite of driving aid systems that are offered on the Ioniq 6.

The 2025 Ioniq 6 Boasts Bold And Striking Exterior Designs

In recent times, you’ll see many automotive brands venturing down a different avenue when designing luxury or premium cars, with many interiors boasting a simplistic and minimalist cabin. Hyundai is just one example, with Tesla, Volvo, and Polestar being three other manufacturers that implement these themes into their cars. Of course, like anything in the car world, it all comes down to personal preference, but these simple designs are shaping the future of what to expect in the automotive industry, and they surprisingly pair well with bold and striking exteriors seen on vehicles such as the Ioniq 6.

Hyundai ties various designs on the inside and outside of the Ioniq 6, such as clean, simple lines and sharp paneling for the body style, which pairs well with the simplistic interior. When it comes to EVs, most electric vehicles utilize aerodynamic contours, which is perfect since one of the main takeaways of EVs is that they’re as efficient as you can get. This is the case with the Ioniq 6, offering an ultra-low drag coefficient of 0.21. Hyundai makes the Ioniq 6 appealing to most by taking the “one-style-fits-all approach.”

This just means that Hyundai didn’t cater to one specific field, such as performance body styling. The Ioniq 6 incorporates more than 700 parametric pixels throughout the exterior, located in areas such as the headlamps, rear combination lamps, front lower sensors, and air vents. It wouldn’t be a premium vehicle if every inch wasn’t purposely placed for a reason while looking good at the same time.

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Hyundai Offers Three Performance Setups On The Ioniq 6

It can get a bit confusing in the EV world because you may be used to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles (ICE) and their straightforward engine setups. When it comes to EVs, the majority of the time, you can pick from different batteries and drivetrains and how many motors the vehicle runs on. Hyundai offers three motor setups on the 2025 Ioniq 6: standard range rear-wheel drive (RWD), rear-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive (AWD). It’s more than just that, with the standard range utilizing a single-electric motor, 53.0-kWh battery, and an RWD setup. This is the base trim and generates 149 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque.

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Performance Specifications

You won’t be getting too much performance out of the Ioniq 6 Standard Range, but two other setups pull in some more getup. The RWD utilizes the same single-electric motor but upgrades the battery to 77.4-kWh. It doesn’t increase the performance crazily, but it does bring it to 225 horsepower and keeps the 258 pound-feet of torque. Lastly, the AWD is powered by dual electric motors with the same 77.4-kWh battery and delivers 320 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque. All setups will take 18 minutes to charge while on a DC Fast Charger.

Who Knew Premium Could Deliver Top-Notch Efficiency?

Determining if a vehicle is premium or not doesn’t come down to efficiency; that just ends up being the icing on the cake if it ends up being cost-effective with its fuel economy. The good news is that the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is one of the best electric vehicles with the best MPGe ratings. Once again, things can get a bit dicey with the three available setups and change even more, given their wheel size.

The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Standard Range RWD provides a combined fuel economy of 115 MPGe and a max driving range of 245 miles. The Ioniq 6 RWD is the most efficient and offers the highest driving range, providing 111 MPGe on the 20-inch wheels and 132 MPGe on the 18-inch wheels. For its driving range, you’ll get either 291 miles or 342 miles, given the wheel size. The all-wheel drive Ioniq 6 stays efficient and comes with extended ranges, offering 103 to 121 MPGe and 270 to 316 miles.

2025 Hyunda Ioniq 6 Fuel Economy

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How The Ioniq 6 Stacks Up Against Other Non-Luxury But Premium Electric Cars

So, how does the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 stack up against non-luxury premium electric vehicles? The short and sweet answer is that it comes out on top. The closest competition that the Ioniq 6 has is most likely the Model 3. The issue here is that while it is considered a “near-luxury” car, it ends up coming from a “luxury car brand” or one that hasn’t classified what type of car brand they are. You can’t mark one car as luxury (Model X and Model S) and one car as premium (Model 3 and Model Y). Well, you can, but no one else is doing it in the car world. With Tesla’s confusing brand image, no other electric cars or sedans come close to the Ioniq 6. In fact, there aren’t any other premium electric cars on the market, and just to be clear, this doesn’t include SUVs. So, if you were to ask, “What’s the most premium electric vehicle that isn’t luxury and doesn’t pull in luxury car price tags?” the only true answer would be the Hyundai Ioniq 6.

Hyundai Comes Close To Becoming A Luxury Brand With Models Like The Ioniq 6

As touched on above, Hyundai is the closest non-luxury car brand in the electric automotive world to come the closest to being one. It can get pretty confusing, but many of the major players in the EV world are luxury car brands. The issue is that there are norms regarding how EVs typically look and what features they come with, and some examples of models that seem out of place, because they don’t carry premium designs or features, include the Chevrolet Bolt EV and the Nissan Leaf. It’s up in the air if Hyundai knew this and purposely designed their vehicles to mirror luxury EVs or if they just struck gold and did an outstanding job by creating models such as the Ioniq 6 that go toe to toe with more expensive models. Ultimately, if you’re trying to step into an EV with top-notch features and striking designs while staying under budget, the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is your one and only candidate for electric sedans.