Introduced with much fanfare a little over a month ago, the Ioniq 5 is already facing an unexpected hurdle while on the verge of hitting the market. The original plan was to build 10,000 examples in April, but that’s no longer the case as Hyundai has no other way but to drastically cut production due to a supplier constraint.
The culprit is the electric motor manufactured by affiliate Hyundai Mobis as the company can’t deliver on its promise to build the necessary number of e-motors and meet the automaker’s initial production goal for April. Consequently, only 2,600 units will be assembled next month, down by a whopping 74 compared to the original production target.
As it’s usually the case when production is facing unprogrammed delays, other suppliers will have to suffer. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, a contractor working with Hyundai says some of the other suppliers to the Ioniq 5 have been asked to store the necessary parts for a minimum of five business days.
It’s unclear what caused the delay in the shipment of electric motors, but we do know these issues Hyundai is having are not related to the chip shortages most automakers are facing these days.
This issue couldn’t have come at a worse time considering the Ioniq 5 has been an instant hit, racking up more than 35,000 reservations at home in South Korea. It also enjoyed huge initial success in Europe as well, where the first 3,000 cars available to preorder were sold almost instantly. Hyundai even went on to claim the Ioniq 5 represents the firm’s most successful new model launch in Europe so far.
Hyundai aims to kick off customer deliveries of the electric SUV in South Korea and Europe during the second quarter of 2021. The goal is to sell 70,000 units before the end of the year and at least 100,000 units annually starting with 2022. It remains to be seen whether the mechanically related Kia EV6 will be impacted by this issue, although there is a distinct possibility its electric motors could come from a different supplier.
Source: JoongAng Daily
