Hyundai Gives IONIQ 6 A $4,500 Price Advantage Over Tesla Model 3

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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 is one of the hottest new electric cars on the market. In fact, it’s a top contender for the 2023 CleanTechnica Car of the Year award in both the USA and Europe! So, it stung a bit to find out the car wouldn’t qualify for the US EV tax credit under new rules in 2024 that exclude cars with batteries built in certain places, like China. It doesn’t even qualify for the half-credit. It’s one of the best electric cars on the market, but it’s a little hard to recommend or consider buying when you know you can get a different EV and get a $7,500 discount from Uncle

Sam Joe.

Hyundai had a solution: offer a $7,500 discount of its own. (Now, don’t get me started on how Hyundai can magically cut $7,500 off the price to make up for the US government not doing so. I find that both confusing and frustrating. Nonetheless, from a consumer perspective, it’s great news!) The note that Hyundai dealers received is that every version of the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 was eligible for a $7,500 Retail Bonus Cash (i.e., discount).

That means a base IONIQ 6 with an MSRP of $42,450 can cost you just $34,950.

I will note that the base MSRP did just get raised by about $4,000, so that helps make the discount seem bigger — the $7,500 US EV tax credit would have been nicer. Nonetheless, what really matters at the end of the day is which car on the market offers the best value for the money for you, and the IONIQ 6 should match that profile for many more people with this offer.

To many Tesla buyers and fans, nothing compares to a Tesla, and so there’s no real competition. To many Tesla haters, Teslas are never an option. There’s probably a bigger pool of people in the middle of all that who are open to buying Teslas or other EVs. This final note is relevant when it comes to that pool. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have dominated the US EV market since their arrival, but with more good electric vehicles on the market, the non-Tesla BEV market has grown even faster, more people are cross-shopping, and tens of thousands of people a quarter are buying other EVs as well. The IONIQ 6 had nearly 4,000 sales in the 4th quarter. It is one of the top competitors to the Model 3, which had about 47,000 sales in the same quarter. How many more buyers can the Hyundai IONIQ 6 find with this new $7,500 “bonus”/price cut?

The base Model 3 starts at $38,990. With a base IONIQ 6 effectively being priced at $34,450 after the discount (see dealer for details — and make sure to negotiate), that’s a $4,500 cost advantage. (Tip of the hat to Cars Direct for spotting this, but it claimed there was a $9,000, and it seems Hyundai has adjusted its pricing since then to obfuscate and balance the check book.) A base Model 3 comes with 272 miles of range, while a Hyundai IONIQ 6 comes with a range of 240 miles. However, Hyundai is known to have more realistic range estimates than Tesla and exceeds expectations in charging speed, according to independent testing from Edmunds. Tech and luxury are a bit different, but comparable, as is space. So, it mostly comes down to preferences in style, in type of interior, in brand, and in $4,500 or so. It makes the conversation much more interesting, in my opinion, and I’m curious to see how many sales Hyundai can achieve in the 1st quarter of 2024!